


Banished

by Foxinstrazt



Series: Banished AU [1]
Category: The Owl House (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Banished au, F/F, Found Family, Lumity, Mental Health Issues, Mild Blood, Timeskip, toh
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-21
Updated: 2020-12-12
Packaged: 2021-03-10 02:34:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 28,879
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27656218
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Foxinstrazt/pseuds/Foxinstrazt
Summary: When Luz is banished back to the Human Realm via Emperor Belos and a mysterious glyph, she fully expected that it would take time to get back to the Boiling Isles. Three years later, and she isn't sure if the Boiling Isles even existed to begin with, until one day she starts seeing familiar faces again..
Relationships: Amity Blight & Luz Noceda, Amity Blight/Luz Noceda, Camila Noceda & Luz Noceda, Eda Clawthorne & Luz Noceda, Edric Blight & Emira Blight & Luz Noceda, Emira Blight/Viney, King & Luz Noceda, Lilith Clawthorne & Luz Noceda, Luz Noceda & Viney, Luz Noceda & Willow Park & Gus Porter
Series: Banished AU [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2022193
Comments: 76
Kudos: 339





	1. A New Glyph

* * *

**Chapter 1 - _A New Glyph_**

* * *

"Deja una luz puesta para mí, te quiero."

Luz reached up and tapped the globule of light floating above her sleeping bag, watching it poof into tiny little sparks as she smiled sadly, setting down her phone. As she watched the other lights she had set up outside slowly dissipate, darkness seemed to creep in on the window and leave her sighing as she prepared to turn over and find some sleep after a long and trying day.

Before she could, her eyes caught a flash of light in the woods just down the dirt path that led to the Owl House. She leaned up and squinted her eyes, trying to make out what the bluish glow was. It was faint, pulsating lightly. Carefully standing as to not wake up King, she took a long look at the demon curled up at the foot of her sleeping bag and smiled before tiptoeing out of the room.

The night itself was chilly, causing Luz to pull at the hem of her tanktop, wishing she had grabbed her hoodie. Scribbling down a light glyph on her notepad, she tapped it with the tip of her pencil as she moved across the path with careful steps, advancing towards that blue glow with that small bright globe hovering above her palm.

The glow moved, causing her to pause for a second as she peered around the trunk of a thin tree to see a little ball of flame bouncing in midair. "Oh." She took another step towards it, careful not to step on any stray branches and spook it, but the moment she did it immediately moved away from her.

Another step caused the reaction again.

And another.

Was it taking her somewhere?

Luz scrawled out a ice glyph on her notepad, just in case the little fireball decided to turn out like everything else seemed to on the Boiling Isles; Dangerous and often explosive. Letting her own light dissipate, she followed the small orb through the trees, weaving around them as it slowed and then rose, illuminating a small clearing.

She glanced around, not stepping in yet, but there was no one else here.

"What're you trying to show me?" Luz peered up at the ball of roiling blue flame as it slowly hovered into the clearing much higher than it had been when leading her here. Her lips pursed in a curious expression as she stepped forward, staring at it.

"Ah, little Human."

A voice!

That voice.

It left the hair on the back of her neck standing up, and sent a chill down through her spine as she glared into the darkness between the trees outside the illumination of the fire. "You!"

"Me." A hooked mask with two horns turned upward, and missing a piece that revealed a pale blue eye that narrowed when it settled on her. A glove rose from beneath his cape, drawing his fingers in to the palm as the ball of light turned into a deep red, one more easily recognizable.

One she remembered being the color of his magic as he threw her around a room, something she could still feel the bruises from.

Luz quickly drew a fire glyph, tapping it and bringing up before his hand was held up. "I did not come here to fight, Human. And I doubt you want a repeat of earlier."

Lowering her hand that was about to hurl her magic at him, she gave a puzzled look in his direction. "Why, then? You got what you wanted, Eda has no magic anymore."

"It's true. This outcome was unexpected, but not troubling, aside from a few.." His head twitched and rotated, almost like a birds as his gaze flicked between the direction she had come from and her, leaving her blood running cold. "Variables."

Holding her fire spell in her palm, Luz took a step closer, glaring up at the Emperor. "You mean when I destroyed the portal, and messed up your evil plan?"

"Evil?" His voice betrayed nothing more than mirth as he remained at the edge of the clearing, just on the edge of that eerie red glow. "I admit, I did not expect such magic from you. Such resolve. To destroy what you thought was your only way home.. It was unexpected. It was impressive."

Was he.. Complimenting her?

"Didn't expect a 'lowly Human' to put up such a fight, huh?" Luz forced her glare into what she hoped was a smirk. Anything to push away the terrifying feeling of powerlessness standing before him gave her.

He said nothing, just stared.

Wait.

"There's another way home?" The words were out before she could stop them, and she stepped toward him, raising the fire in her hand to get a better look at him.

"There is." His mask tilted a bit more to the side, his glowing eyes watching her intently. "But only for someone originally from your realm."

Her shoe stepped on something that cracked, and when she looked down to see the twig she had snapped, a shimmer of bright red began to scrawl out from where her foot had fallen. The fire in her hand fizzled out as the horror of realization grew in her. It was a trap! Of course it had been a trap! A glyph was lighting up beneath her as she looked back at the Emperor.

"I told you, I did not come to fight." The glyph completed, and there was a surge of power that pushed up past Luz as she cowered. It took her a second to realize it had not harmed her, but there was wind picking up all around the clearing. Glancing about, she finally looked up to see a vortex beginning to form directly above her near the top of the canopy of trees. Her hood began to raise up against the back of her head, her hair following soon after as the spell began to pull her upward. "Your knowledge of glyphs is impressive, but chaotic. Undisciplined."

His voice hadn't raised, but it filled the space around Luz as she tore the ice glyph she had scribbled down earlier out of her notepad and slapped it against her feet, freezing them to the ground as her gaze fearfully switched between the Emperor and the growing vortex above her exerted a stronger pull at her limbs.

"And unity cannot abide chaos. It must be banished."

Luz could feel that her eyes were wide with the panic filling her heart. She drew a plant glyph as quickly as she could, pressing it against her chest and activating it. It took a second before the vines wrapped over her shoulders and around her body, digging into the ground around her as she felt the ice begin to crack and break around her feet. "No, no, no!"

"Goodbye, Human." His hand rose, and with a tiny wave the ice shattered, the vines straining as the force pulling her up grew more and more powerful. "Enjoy your world."

Bringing her pen to the notepad again, Luz cried out as the pages were flipped over one another and finally torn straight from it as she was several inches off the ground. All that she could get on the page that remained in the pad was a scratch of ink before the pen was ripped from her hand. The last vine across her chest snapped in two, and she dropped her pen to grab onto one of the vines as her feet were lifted into the air. Her screams had to reach someone, anyone who could help. "No! Eda! King! Lilith!"

Her fingers scraped against the vine as she was drawn further away, finally feeling it give and the dirt it had dug into pull up from the ground. Luz's eyes were wide and wild as she looked over to see the Emperor standing beside the banishment glyph he had drawn, staring up at her, his hands neatly folded over one another inside his cloak. "I'll find my way back! ¡Verás!"

She was sure she heard him chuckle, even as he seemed to melt into the ground.

The middle of the vine snapped with a loud crack.

"You won't."

Luz was pulled through the vortex.

* * *

It wasn't like last time, when she had stepped through a portal and into a tent. This time, Luz was thrown through the air, twenty feet out from the rotted wood door of the cabin. Hitting the ground sent a flare of pain through the bruises she was already sporting, and the dull ache of what would become new ones, she was sure. She rolled a few times, coming to rest on her side as the air that was knocked from her caused her to suck in breath in agonizing open mouthed gulps.

She couldn't focus as she turned over onto her hands and knees, looking up to see the vortex still swirling inside the door. One hand forward, then a knee. She could do this.

Another hand forward, another knee.

She could do this!

The light of the swirling and howling vortex dimmed. "No!"

She reached the edge of the porch, pulling herself up to stand as she still struggled to find breath. The wind was whipping from the door as if trying to push her back. It was only when she leaned into it that she tumbled forward, the source of it cut off as the door slammed closed.

"No, ¡no me dejes!"

Luz ran forward, stumbling on the creaky porch before she ripped the door back open, panting as she look around the room filled with dust and trash. She closed the door before opening it again, repeating this a handful of times before she finally had to kneel down on the rotten wood beneath her and truly try to catch the breath that had been knocked out of her.

Holding her chest as each inhale brought with it a spike of pain, she felt tears burn at the corners of her eyes and begin to run down her cheeks as she hiccuped. "Eda.."

_King, Willow, Gus.._

Their faces flashed through her mind as she tried to process what had just happened.

That she would never see them again.

_Amity.._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally caught up with this show and I fell in love with it. Like every other hyperfixation of mine, gotta write a fic about it! I'm trying something new with this, so this fic will update every Saturday, with the first part covering Luz's life since being banished.
> 
> Let me know what you think about this start, and thanks for reading! <3
> 
> Translations: Quick disclaimer, I took German for four years in school, and I barely speak a lick of it. If I get any Spanish words/phrases wrong, I am very sorry, it's cause I'm dumb. I'll leave all translations at the bottom of each chapter.
> 
> "Deja una luz puesta para mí, te quiero." - "Leave a light on for me, I love you"
> 
> "¡Verás!" - "You'll see!"
> 
> "¡no me dejes!" - "don't leave me!"


	2. Three Years Later

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Three years have passed, leaving Luz second guessing whether or not she'd lost her mind somewhere along the way..

* * *

**Chapter 2 - _Three Years Later_**

* * *

The keys in Luz's hand jingled against the old, worn keychains she had attached to them as she unlocked the door to her apartment. She stepped in, twirling the keys around her forefinger before tucking them back into her pocket, and slowly slipped the strap of her backpack off her shoulder with a sigh of relief. "¡Mamá, estoy en casa!"

There was no response as she walked over to the fridge, opening it to grab a small bottle of apple juice from inside. She twisted off the cap and took a drink, kicking the door closed with her foot. As she enjoyed the feeling of the chilled liquid giving her dry throat some relief, she looked down and thumbed at the note set against the fridge with a magnet. "At work, again.."

Luz sighed, twisting the cap to her drink back on and snatching her backpack from the table where she had tossed it, moving down the long hallway to the door on the right at the far end. It gave some resistance until she put her shoulder into it and pushed it open, closing it behind her and throwing her bag onto the bed in the corner.

Sliding down into the worn and battered chair beside her desk, she spun in it once before setting her drink down and picking up the journal that had been left facedown. She opened it warily, turning to the latest entry that she had given up on writing in it some time just before her alarm had gone off.

She had dreamed of that place again. This time she had been on the Knee, staring out over the islands and bones that had carried such beauty when she wasn't running around the worn down cobblestone streets. And she hadn't done that. Not really.

Three years had passed since she had come back. From camp. She had come back from camp. She had imagined an adventure with witches, evil emperors, and friends. It was best to forget it and not be stuck wishing she could go back, that wasn't healthy. She had moved on from that childish fantasy.

Or at least, she had tried to. Her therapist, Dr. Knight, had told her it wasn't common to have such a vivid fantasy and not remember the months she had spent in camp, but not unheard of. He best guess that she must have been so bored that letting her mind wander and tune out what went on around had been a sort of coping mechanism. He said it with his kind smile and his eyes that never held an ounce of judgement, like it was a bit of an inside joke between them.

She had started seeing him just before the Christmas after she returned from.. From camp. She had spent months going into the woods to try and see if the portal was back. After school, all day if she could. Her worst day had been her last, when she ended up sleeping on the cold ground and her mother had found her shivering and covered in the night's snowfall, fingers and palms bloody with splinters. Depression was what his diagnosis had been, a 'unique case' he had called it. Manageable.

They had moved to the apartment soon after. It was much closer to the hospital and to the high school she would be attending! That was the reason that she had been given, but she remembered the worry in her mom's eyes, and overhearing Dr. Knight telling her that distance from it could help, very clearly.

Her mom didn't think she was lying. She really didn't! But there was no proof, and so it became a repeated line of 'I believe that you believe it, mija. I just want you to be happy.'

She trusted her mom, but It felt like a way of saying that she was lying without outright saying it. It definitely felt like she was lying when she talked about it. She had even spent the first few sessions of therapy close mouthed and glaring at Dr. Knight. Certain that she really had learned magic, fought an evil emperor, danced with a cute witch to defeat a demon.

But Luz eventually did what her mother wanted. She tried to 'be happy', whatever that meant. She went to a new school for 9th grade, she took classes that were boring when compared to learning how to mix a potion that created fog when you smashed it, or how to best clean a griffin. But that hadn't been real.

She got decent grades now, with none of the extravagance that earned her the title of weirdo in elementary and middle school. She put away the fantastical worlds she had loved in anime and reading, finding in them only reminders of the adventures that haunted her. Not that it had stopped the way others stared at her. She had traded being loud for being quiet, traded a smile and kill 'em with kindness attitude for saying nothing when she got shoulder checked in the hallways by the kids who still knew who she had been before. Eventually, some got bored and gave up.

Some didn't.

Sure, she talked with some people at school. But, if she was honest with herself, she can't remember the last time she had even tried to meet up with any of them outside of it. Well, that wasn't necessarily true, she remembered the last time very well. She remembered the excitement leading up to the date, his warm smile, and the feeling of heat rising in her cheeks.

What she remembered most was the way her stomach fell when she had found out it was just so he could tell his friends if she was as crazy as they had heard. Had she really let snakes loose during a school project? Had she really been obsessed with a dumb story about witches?

He still sometimes asked her out in the hallways. Very loudly, very publicly.

After that, it was hard to justify reminding herself of the Boiling Isles with fantasy stories. She remembered getting the sixth Azura book. It still was tucked somewhere on her bookshelf with a bookmark on page fourteen, the farthest she had gotten before wanting to burn it.

She found out about the seventh being released when it showed up in the school library, had glared at it and thought of a certain witch she had left behind with that same shade of green hair. Not that she had really left anyone behind. She had been at camp.

If she bothered to open the bottom drawer on the left of her desk, there was twenty notebooks full of the glyphs she could still draw from memory alone. She had drawn them over and over, until the pen was tearing through pages and the paper had been stained with tears. None of them had done anything but be ink on paper.

It took a while, but she came to terms with the fact she did imagine it all. What was hardest was that she could imagine being happy in a world like that, having friends like that, but she never could figure out how to be happy like that in her world. The real world.

It wasn't a bad life, she told herself. It just wasn't exciting.

She had her mom, who she loved dearly.

But, sometimes she wished she had friends who had understood her like Willow and Gus. Or someone as brave as Amity, someone who would step in front of their fears to protect her.

That's what had made today so hard.

She had been in English class, listening to the teacher give a lecture about a book either called The Alchemy or about alchemy, and her mind had wandered off without her permission into thinking about the classes she had took for the Potions track.

Hadn't took. Camp.

But while she had been zoning out, she hadn't realized there was a girl standing in front of her until it struck her that no one dressed like that here. Bright green eyes behind round glasses, dark turquoise hair cropped shorter than she remembered in almost a pixie cut. Taller, but still wearing a black tunic and skirt with green leggings and sleeves. She had shouted in surprise and dropped her pencil, and the girl was gone just as quickly as she had appeared. The teacher asked if something was wrong, and she had hastily squeaked out a no as several students snickered at her. She was sure that when she bent down to pick up her pencil, someone had whispered 'weirdo'.

That still kind of stung in her chest, even hours later. It left her unnerved and self-conscious for the rest of the day.

But the whole thing had been a fluke, just a wandering mind.

Until it wasn't.

She had been sitting in the bus, waiting for it leave the school and pointedly ignoring the way _he_ was laughing with his friends about her earlier freakout when she realized that the seat beside her was suddenly filled. Luz had managed not to scream this time when she saw Willow's reflection in the bus window and whirled around to face her. The girl had lost some of the chubbiness she remembered, but there was something else new.

Muscles?

Willow looked so excited, and her mouth was moving as if she were saying something. Luz didn't hear anything, and when she blinked the girl was gone as abruptly as she had been there.

If she had been there.

She hadn't been there.

* * *

Her mom came home an hour or so after Luz had finished writing down her rambling thoughts for the day in the journal, still tapping the pen against the page and looking out the window to the street below when the woman had knocked on her bedroom door.

"Mija, did you hear me?"

Dropping the pen as she spun the chair to father her mom, Luz blinked a few times. "No mamá, lo siento! ..What did you say?"

"I was just saying I was home, and asking how your day was." The tired brown eyes behind thick glasses narrowed in concern, and her mother stepped into the room. "Are you okay?"

Luz briefly had a thought to lie, to smile and say everything was fine. Her face fell at the thought though, if this was going to keep happening, she had to be honest about it to get help. "I dunno. Can we set up an appointment with Dr. Knight? I've been having trouble sleeping."

Well, partially honest.

Her mom did not notice the omission that weighed on her heart, only smiling and moving closer, pulling her into a tight and warm hug. "Of course, mija. I'm so proud of you for being proactive in taking care of yourself. ¡Tan orgullosa de ti!"

Luz smiled and nodded, feeling worse for it.

* * *

Luz laid back on her bed with an angry sigh. She had spent the time after dinner scratching glyphs into a notebook. Again! Pages lay ruined and torn on her desk, others crumpled and piled around the chair. She had tried until midnight and succeeded at nothing but ignoring her end of semester homework and becoming incredibly frustrated. The journal itself was somewhere across the room, and the pen was snapped in half and in the trash.

She throws her arm over her eyes, closing them and trying to find sleep amidst a churning sense of indignation within her chest.

Why did she have to be this way?

Why couldn't she just be normal, like everyone wanted her to be?

There's some shuffling on the papers she had thrown across the room in her fit, causing her to slowly lower her arm. She was expecting to see her mom, and to launch into an explanation of just what she was doing.

Instead she found the same girl that had been tormenting her all day bending down to look at one of the pages.

Embarrassment flushed through her as she sat up, drawing the green eyes and a sudden blooming smile from Willow.

She just glared at the ghost.

Somewhere in the back of her mind a thought remarked that she had been right earlier. Those were muscles.

"Luz!"

That set her back on being pissed off at an image. She remembered her friend's voice as clearly as if she had heard it yesterday. Willow was frowning, asking if she can hear her.

Folding her arms, Luz pinched herself and looked down at the floor of her room. "Just a dream, I've gotta wake up. It's. Not. Real!" The skin between her fingers stung more and more until she finally let go, letting out a shaky breath as she looked up to find the girl was still there, staring at her.

Then she blinked.

Willow was gone again.

She didn't get much sleep after that.

* * *

The next day was even harder.

Luz couldn't decide if she was just losing it all over again, or if this was just one long process of her having already lost her mind.

She groggily pulled herself out of bed and into clothes she was sure she wore a few days ago, stomping down the hallway and into the kitchen, throwing her backpack onto the table with more force than was necessary before moving to grab the lunch her mom packed for her from the fridge. When she turned around with the sack in her hand, she looked down at a note she had accidentally knocked off the table.

'Working late tonight, set an appointment with Dr. Knight for next week. Let me know if you need a ride! -Love, Mami'

There was a date and a time below it. Luz hated feeling like this, like she was crazy.

She crushed the note in her hand.

Like she was weak.

Contemplating even going to school, she stood there for a long minute, staring at her backpack on the table before she heard a voice from the hallway.

"Luz?"

It was a boy's voice, and her eyes snapped up to see a boy a few years younger than her, his dark hair bushier and taller than she had last seen it.

_Imagined it._

He wore a black tunic with a familiar cowl, and the light blue sleeves and pants of the Illusion Track as he seemed to be distracted looking around the hallway at the walls and floor. "Whoa.. The Human world!"

She almost felt the urge to laugh, especially at how he seemed to have only grown an inch in three years. Instead she glared at Gus, reaching up to rub at her eyes and finally looking away when he didn't have the decency to disappear. "Just.. Leave me alone."

There was a noise, like he had remembered she was there and was going to say something, but no words followed. When Luz looked back at the hallway, it was empty.

Like it was supposed to be, she had to remind herself.

Why did she feel so disappointed, then?

* * *

It was later in the day, during Geometry class, when the faint buzzing in her head returned. She hadn't noticed it the first few times, but this time she immediately knew that she was about to see.. Someone.

Someone not real.

Someone who couldn't be real.

Because she had gone to camp.

Luz's hand shot up, and she asked the teacher to go to the bathroom when he noticed her. He gave only a mildly annoyed look before dismissing her, losing his flow of the lesson as she scurried out the door and maintained a brisk pace until she shoved the bathroom door in.

This shouldn't be happening..

This couldn't be happening!

..Why was this happening?

Her mind raced as she moved to the sink, turning on the faucet and splashing water into her face. The cold sent a bit of a shock through her system, forcing her to focus and try to manage her heart as it was hammering in her chest. She closed her eyes and filled her thoughts with breathing in and out, calm once again reaching her as that buzzing inside her head fell away.

Opening her eyes, she looked up into the mirror. There was a figure behind her, causing her to shout as she turned and fell back against the sink. Letting out a hiss of pain as she held her side and what she knew was gonna turn into a bruise, she paused as she finally recognized the person.

"I don't think you can even hear me, and I don't have long. My parents are expecting me to.. Well it doesn't matter." Amity Blight stood just a few feet away from her, looking down at the tiles as if she was refusing to look at Luz. This wasn't quite the Amity she could remember though. She was a couple inches shorter than Luz now, but taller than she had been when they were fourteen. The dress she wore was a deep magenta color, and there was an black undershirt and leggings that gave her a much less uptight look that Luz could ever remember the girl having.

The most glaring change was her hair. It had grown out a lot since Luz had last seen the girl, now spilling down around her shoulders while the short ponytail in the back held a lot more volume to it. Amity's natural reddish-brown roots now showed all around her face, stretching back over almost half the top of her head, while the rest remained that light green she remembered. Before she caught herself in the middle of the thought, she was contemplating how much it looked like a mane. "A-Amity?"

The golden eyes finally slid up to her, and a spark of hope in them diminished into a sharp glare of anger that hit Luz like a brick to the chest as the girl stomped her foot. It didn't cause a sound like it should have, a heel smashing against the bathroom tile like that, like someone had turned the volume down on the world around the witch. "Why can't I see you clearly?! I did every step perfectly, this doesn't make any sense!"

Amity had always looked so put together, calm and controlled.

This Amity looked..

Desperate.

Luz stared at the girl before her, who evidently could not even tell that she was being seen and heard, unable to do much more than stand uncomfortably with the sink digging into her back.

"Three. Years. And every time it's same stupid blob!"

Honestly, had Amity gotten prettier?

That thought, strange as it was, was interrupted as the witch finished off her frustrated tantrum by growling out, a sound that was carried much more bass to it that Luz expected. Making a circle motion with her finger, Amity dissipated into mist before Luz's eyes.

It almost looked like it was a spell that was causing her to see her old friends.

But that would mean magic was real.

And magic wasn't real.

There was no Boiling Isles.

There was no Willow or Gus.

There was no Amity.

This was the real world. It's where she was supposed to be.

She went to camp.

_Right?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now I did say I was gonna update every Saturday, but a friend suggested that Chapter 1 was really more prologue than anything and I should post this one to get the story off the ground. Chapter 3 will be out next Saturday, though! Thanks for the all the kudos, I hope this story lives up to the expectations and that you all enjoy it, thanks for reading! -Fox
> 
> Translations -
> 
> "¡Mamá, estoy en casa!" - "Mom, I'm home!"
> 
> "lo siento!" - "I'm sorry!"
> 
> "¡Tan orgullosa de ti!" - "So proud of you!"


	3. Another Visitor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Luz begins to unravel as she encounters more and more ghosts from her past.

* * *

**Chapter 3 - _Another Visitor_**

* * *

There were no other apparitions for five days after her encounter with Amity in the bathroom, and it had left Luz on the edge of her last nerve, despite the Summer break starting only two days after she'd seen the green-haired witch. The first couple of nights of not having to deal with homework and left her with three notebooks ruined due to scratching glyphs into them, her fingers digging deeper and deeper into her hair as she grew more and more frustrated with the fact that nothing ever happened with them.

Why.

Wouldn't.

They.

JUST.

WORK!

Her mom had come into her room after hearing a notebook hit the wall, the look of concern in the woman's tired eyes sending a pang through her chest as she felt guilt twist around her heart. She didn't deserve to have to deal with her problems.

Luz had wanted to cry into the hug that followed, but she found she just.. Couldn't. When this world didn't suck, with the bullies and the disinterest she seemed to find wherever she turned, it just felt numb. If it wasn't frustration, guilt, or sadness, she didn't feel at all.

That probably should have alarmed her.

But maybe it was better than grieving the life she could have had.

If only she could be a better daughter and be happy with what she had. Her mom already did so much, worked so hard to provide for her.

Numbness wasn't worth the work other people would have to put in on her behalf, it didn't deserve the careful way her mother supported her.

And so Luz found herself back in the office of Dr. Knight on the Wednesday following the start of Summer break, leaning forward with her elbows on her knees and trying not to think about how little sleep she had gotten once her mom had left her room. Tried not to think about how every time she tried to shut her eyes, she thought she felt or heard something that announced another person appearing out of nowhere around her.

How her thoughts liked to drift uncomfortably back to Amity, focusing on the girl and feeding a tiny spark of hope that she would see her again.

Why was she so focused on her? She missed them all.

Luz leaned her head down and pushed her palms against her closed eyes until she saw bright lights bloom, trying to shake the thought of Amity Blight from her mind once again.

Why did she focus on her? Probably because she would've liked to have someone as fierce as Amity by her side this year. A friend who wouldn't let her just take the harassment from other kids, who would speak up in her defense.

Also, the thought of the witch throwing a fireball at the boy who obnoxiously shouted her name and mockingly asked her for a second date on the last day of the semester filled her with a momentary sense of satisfaction.

She was pulled from the fantasy as she heard Dr. Knight sigh and stand up, walking over and sitting down on the couch opposite her, setting down his coffee and a notepad on the table between them. They had exchanged some quiet pleasantries when she had entered, but he had been finishing up a report for his previous patient, and asked her to wait a few minutes.

Now he was done, and looking at her with that kind smile as he spoke and adjusted his glasses. "So, Luz. Your mother mentioned that you've been having trouble sleeping, is that right?"

"N-no. Well, actually, yes. I.. Did tell my mom that." She cringed inwardly as she looked down at her hands. Wow.

Very smooth.

Totally not suspicious.

But, as always when it came to her deflections, the man only laughed softly. "It's okay. I thought it ran a bit deeper than what you told her." He took a long sip of his coffee, letting the silence linger for a moment. "Why don't you tell me what's weighing on your mind?"

Luz remained quiet, staring at her hands before she hung her head down and sighed. "I've been.. Having weird dreams?" Wow, she hoped that didn't sound as obviously not true as it felt to say.

"Weird, how?"

"I keep seeing some people." She leaned back a bit, looking at him as she chewed on the inside of her cheek before realizing she needed to clarify that. "Uh, in the dreams? They keep trying to talk to me, but they don't hear me and I.. Think they can't really see me?"

Did that sound as crazy to him as it did to her?

Probably.

He watched her with a discerning, thoughtful gaze for a long moment before giving a small hum. "Well, let's start with why these people you're seeing are important to you. Who are they?"

"Well, they're.." Friends, best friends. "Kids that I once knew. It just feels like they have something important to say but never get a chance to."

"You wake up?"

She blinked for a second before realizing that yes, she would have been asleep in this version of the events. "The dream ends."

Dr. Knight wrote something on his notepad before setting it down in his lap. "And these kids, are they from the Boiling Isles?"

Luz felt her muscles tense, felt her gut turn in that way that had only ever happened when she realized that there was gonna be a fight. A instinctual sort of fear. Like last month when she put her mouth where it didn't belong and a bully turned from harassing a younger kid to her, her whole body telling her to run. She hadn't, she'd stood and fought back.

She'd ended up with a black eye and detention, and not for the first time during the year on either count.

That had sucked.

And this feeling always sucked.

But she had told him a little about the Boiling Isles. He was the only one other than her mom who had any idea what she had crammed up in that head of hers. And he had never once judged her, never once called her crazy for it. So Luz nodded slowly. "I know that I'm not supposed to.. Engage with the fantasy." It was his own words, from one of their earliest sessions. Don't give the fantasy a hold and eventually it will fade, was the hope.

It hadn't.

But she had gone to camp.

She pushed aside the feeling like she had broken a rule, because he wasn't looking at her like she was in trouble, he was looking at her like he wanted to know more. "It just.. It feels like what they're trying to tell me something that I need to know." Another scribble on the notepad brought her eyes down to it, even though she never could see what he wrote.

Dr. Knight set the pad down on the couch beside him, shifting a bit as he adjusted how he was sitting. "Well, with what you have told me, I think what you're describing is similar to a mental block. It's not uncommon at all for those who have changed their lives in a significant way, and that shift doesn't have to be as severe as from the Boiling Isles to 'Our World', either." Again, there was no judgement in the way he phrased it, but there was a definite clinical way that he approached the topic whenever they spoke of it like that that made her eyes narrow a bit. "For instance, kids that move to a much different place in their formative years sometimes have old friends reach out to them and there's some.. Resistance-" He curled both hands into fists and bumped them against one another and pushing to accentuate his point. "-with that, and they hold a notion subconsciously that it's better not to let any of it back in and risk losing it again."

"So I'm.. Blocking them out because I'm afraid to get hurt again?"

He focused on her once again, his kind blue eyes leaving her feeling a little more at ease. "Let me put it this way: In our earlier sessions, you mentioned difficulty getting into things you used to enjoy. When was the last time you read something that wasn't a stuffy book assigned by a teacher?"

She searched for an answer.

And searched.

She had put away things like Azura months after she and her mom moved into the city. Her silence was as good an answer as any, causing a soft 'hm' to come from the doctor as he tilted his head. "What about a new hobby? I remember you were taking guitar lessons from one of your homeroom classmates?"

"Oh, um, I was. Allison is taking advanced classes this year, so she's.. Too busy." It was half true. Luz just hadn't been able to text her back after their last time practicing. Hadn't been able to answer the simple question if she wanted to move their practices to weekends instead of after school. It wasn't anything specific, she was a nice girl, they seemed to get along well enough to do what they set out to. But months later and that text was still on read and Ali hadn't even reached out more than nods and hellos in the halls at school. "I've been, uh, drawing again."

Technically.

Sort of? Glyphs counted.

"That's good. It's important that you find hobbies and other things you can enjoy. But for tonight, can you do something for me?" She tilted her head as he scribbled another note down for their session. "Before you fall asleep tonight, I want you to try to get yourself into a place mentally where you're at least willing to hear these people out, see if you can't engage a little bit with what you left behind?"

Luz's gaze shifted to stare down at her hands. There was still a bit of ink on her right pinky, when she had torn the page and almost tore skin off with the tip of her pen. "A-are you sure?"

"I know it may seem weird, but I think you're in a place now where you may need to engage with the fantasy a bit to get some closure. If you think you can handle it?"

Sure.

It's not like she wasn't already straddling the edge between rejecting her time on the Boiling Isles or falling right back into belief of it.

"Okay."

Why couldn't she just be normal?

* * *

That night, Luz did not expect to get much sleep. She lay in her bed, staring up at the ceiling and listening to the sounds of the city around the apartment. Cars, even this late, were common. It was noisy in a way that their house hadn't been. And tonight, noisy in a way that set her on edge.

She groaned and rolled over, reaching over to her nightstand to grab her phone. There was one message, from her mom, letting her know that she would be working late again. She had left it on unread, not wanting to let her know that she was still up this late. Luz let out another groan as she set it back down, rolling onto her back and staring back up the ceiling, she snatched up one of her extra pillows and clutched it to her chest, glaring into the darkness.

After a moment, she finally let out a long breath she didn't realize she had been holding.

Focus.

How had Dr. Knight put it? Engage a little bit to get some closure?

Closure.

There was a finality to it that Luz didn't particularly like, but she closed her eyes and tried anyway. She thought back to three years ago, to the Boiling Isles.

The prison break she had helped pull off on the very first day she arrived. Hearing King make a lame excuse so he could be near her on the first night. Running through the halls of Hexside with Willow, abominations on their tail. Realizing just how resourceful Eda really was. Gus sneaking her into the school over something as silly as a club presidency.

A tear ran down her cheek, causing her eyes to shoot open as she felt a dull ache enter her heart. Things had been.. Easier, then. She'd actually fit in somewhere, and the weirdest thing anyone ever even acknowledged was the fact she was from a whole other realm.

The buzzing began in the back of her head.

Amity turning towards her and asking if she could have this dance.

Why did that one hurt more than others?

As if on cue, she heard a scoff. "If that girl couldn't get through, I dunno why she thinks I can." Luz squeezed her eyes shut at the voice, more tears joining the first as she clutched the pillow in her arms. The movement seemed to have attracted the attention of the witch. "Oh, come on, I can barely even see her! Blight, what kind of bunk Oracle spell is this, it's just a vague human-ish blob!"

There was quiet for a long time, and Luz finally opened a teary eye to see what had happened. The witch was still there, facing away and looking down at her desk.

More specifically, where several ruined papers littered with glyphs lay.

"Kid, I dunno if you can even hear me. Who knows with a spell like this?"

There was a heavy sigh.

"I just hope you're doing okay.."

Luz watched as the form unraveled and left only darkness behind, bringing a new wave of burning tears to the corners of her eyes as she crumpled against the mattress of her bed. Here she was, on the verge of sobbing over an imaginary person from an imaginary world.

_Why can't I just be normal?_

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow I am very bad at keeping to a schedule. I was originally gonna try and set an update schedule so I'd have enough time to really polish the chapters but I still run into the problem of 'I finished one and I really want to post it now'. And I'm weak, so here we are. Throwing out a schedule again. I'm just gonna update whenever a chapter is ready! Loving seeing your comments so far, I really hope you guys continue to enjoy the story! Lemme know what you all think, always open to hearing what you guys like or what I could do better at! In short, keep the comments coming, they feed me. -Fox


	4. Reach Out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Luz can't sleep, and finds herself plagued with visions of her old mentor. Is there any truth to her memories, and are her old friends reaching out to try and contact her? She isn't sure, but she confides in her mother to get a bit of much-needed perspective.

* * *

**Chapter 4 - _Reach Out_**

* * *

Luz didn't know when she had fallen asleep. It was dreamless, restless, and she spent much of the night tossing and turning and waking up in short fragments before exhaustion pulled her back down. At one such point, she woke up sweating, her breath racing as she felt the buzzing begin in the back of her head, and she looked around hurriedly. "No, no, no.. Leave me alone!"

It was like static in her thoughts, before finally it calmed. Still present, but not disruptive. "-ot like I can just wake her up."

Her eyes snapped to the woman who was standing near her desk again, looking off to the side and speaking in that direction. Luz swung her legs off the edge of the bed, pointing at the witch. "I said, leave me alone!"

Eyes focused on her in the dark, the room only lit by the street lights outside her window. For a moment she thought Eda had heard her. "Hold on, she did just move. Heh, what're the chances?"

The anger and frustration seemed to bleed from Luz as she hung her head, not finding much point to yell at a hallucination. "Kid?" Her head snapped up to regard the Owl Lady, whose eyes widened in surprise. "You _can_ see me! Lily, it's working! ..Oh, she's still blurry though."

Reaching up to wipe the sleep from her eyes, Luz finds them coming away wet with years. Even in the dark she can make out the pointed ears and the wild mane of hair of the witch who had been her mentor.

Hadn't been. She went to camp.

Eda was looking away again, a puzzled expression showing on the features that were illuminated by the light. "Why would she be blocking it? No, no, no, it's gotta be some kind of interference, Blight, trust me on that.." There was a pause and the woman made a rude gesture to someone Luz couldn't see before that expression softened and she turned back to crouch down, coming to eye level with her. "Look kid, I dunno what's happening on your side, but the connection won't last long like this. We need to-"

She was gone in the next moment.

Luz didn't realize until a second later she had extended her hand and let out a hoarse whisper. "Wait!"

That realization left her grasping at empty air, and she fell forward off of the bed and onto her knees, a sob ripping through her chest. Her hands rose and dug her fingers into her hair, gripping it tight as she tried to find the breath to cry and speak at the same time. "It's not real, it's not real.."

Somewhere inside her, buried under years of her own doubts, a smaller, younger voice chirped up. _But what if it is?_

That question caught her off guard, causing her to hiccup as a sob was caught in her throat, her eyes wide as her mind was stuck on that faint, maddening hope. "It's.. It's all just.. Holding me back."

That is what her mother had told her, the day she had gone through the portal. It had become a rational she had to cling to in the last three years. All of the fantastical stories she loved, the memories of the Boiling Isles, they had held her back from enjoying real life, in the real world. They weren't real. They made her an outsider.

A weirdo.

Her hands dropped to her sides as she looked down, feeling worse off than ever. This didn't feel like closure, it felt like a raw wound. Like she'd pulled the scab off and was bleeding freely again.

_Besides, us weirdos have to stick together._

That small, internal voice shone the light on that memory, bringing a sad smile to Luz's lips. She could taste the tears that had spilled down her cheeks, feel the residue they'd left on her cheeks. She wished it had been as true here as it had been on the Isles. She spent so much time trying to be normal, trying to fit in. But normal never seemed to fit her, and she didn't know if she could ever be happy with normal.

She wasn't sure if she'd ever admitted that to anyone, even herself. Normal didn't fit, and sticking together? She scoffed.

One taste of that in three years and now she was sure she had lost her mind a long time ago.

Magic didn't exist.

People don't appear and disappear randomly.

Why couldn't normal just fit her?

* * *

With sleep now firmly out of reach for the night, Luz took a long time to stand up from kneeling, feeling the joint in her right knee pop after carrying her weight for so long. She wiped at her eyes and walked out into the hallway, moving towards the kitchen. Coffee wouldn't fix her problems, but it couldn't hurt them at this point, either.

She stared at the pot as it brewed, and before long she was sitting down at the table, holding her head in her hands and breathing in the fresh smell of the coffee in a mug between her elbows. Running one of her hands through her hair, which had been growing out for a while now and was due for a trim, she tried to zero in on what exactly she was feeling.

On one hand, she was certain she had just experienced a breakdown of some sorts in her bedroom, but on the other, she felt like the only way out of this now was through it. Like Dr. Knight had said: Closure.

How was she supposed to get closure with spending months inside a magic realm, finding the friends she had always dreamed of, and then losing them? Or, the alternative, she had simply lost her mind?

It was such an absurd question she wanted to laugh.

And she wanted to cry.

If only it had just been real. It had been terrifying, but..

But?

But she had been loved in ways she wasn't here.

She needed answers, it didn't look like her old friends were gonna stop tormenting her because she had decided they weren't real. Maybe it was time to let them in, she reasoned. Luz picked up her mug and took a long, warm sip of her coffee, letting it spread heat through her chest and down her limbs before she let out a sigh and set it back down. "..Okay."

She started with some mental affirmations.

_They're real._

_It's all real._

_The Boiling Isles is there, I went there._

_They're trying to talk to me._

There was the buzzing again, no stronger than before, a static in the back of her head that left her spine tingling as she squirmed to try and get rid of the feeling.

After a moment, just like the others, it died down to a comfortable level, and she opened her eyes.

"Titan be damned, I think the girl got it this time, Lily! I can see the whole place instead of just a few feet!" Just outside of the hallway stood Eda, facing away from her. The old witch turned around, eyes searching for her. They settled on her, and for a brief moment Luz had some hope before disappointment flashed over the Owl Lady's features. "Nope, she is still just a blob. Kid, can you hear me?"

Exasperation filled her, and a bit of anger that it seemed like none of her old friends had noticed what this was doing to her. "Yes! I can hear you, of course I can hear you! What do you want?!"

She had stood while shouting it, glaring at the witch. Eda didn't seem to react aside from tilting her head and walking closer to the table. As she stepped into the light, Luz let out a gasp. Much of Eda's wild hair, once as grey as the feathers of her cursed form, was now a bright orange. All that remained was a long streak of the grey hair just above an eye of the same color on the left side. Both that eye that showed her half of the curse and the naturally bright gold one studied her for a long moment before Eda shrugged. "Well, this will have to do. I think she can hear us, she's definitely trying to talk to me, and she is angry about it.. Or she is doing some weird Human dance."

Luz frowned as the Owl Lady let out a laugh that ended in a snort at her own joke. It lasted only a moment before the woman snapped back to seriousness, glaring off to the side. "Okay, Lily, sheesh." Her old mentor's eyes returned to her, and jerked a thumb in direction she had been talking and donned a conspiratorial look. "Still no fun, this one."

Despite all the frustration she felt, she couldn't help the smile that tugged at her lips at the woman's antics, trying to imagine Lilith standing off to the side berating her younger sister and getting more and more frustrated. She had never liked the older witch, even before she learned she had cursed Eda. Imagining her being annoyed and stomping around made Luz want to laugh.

"Listen, kid."

Gone was the mirth that the Owl Lady had held even a moment earlier. "If you can hear me, you need to be careful, the portal might be open again." Her heart rate spiked in her chest, hammering against her rib cage as she stared up at the witch. She had destroyed it. She was sure she had destroyed it. "A few weeks ago, big wig Belos himself ordered a Human-hunt all over the Isles. Every member of the Emperor's Coven was involved, and they tore every little hideout apart. They even searched our place a few times, just to be sure."

Why would the Emperor suddenly have interest in finding a human?

He had been the one to banish her, after all.

With a glyph, of all things.

"Now, obviously he didn't find one! But, we learned he's gonna try and do something to pull a Human who 'has been here' back." Eda's features were locked into a concerned expression as those eyes struggled to find a place to focus on her face. "Only one we know of is you, kiddo. And if he's got the portal open, he might be coming for ya."

"What?!"

Eda held up a hand as if to cut her off, even though she knew the witch could not hear her. "Don't worry though, we've come up with a plan! In the meantime, all you gotta do is stay away, and then we'll-"

The Owl Lady vanished before her eyes as Luz slammed her fists down on the table. "No, Eda! Mierda!"

* * *

Luz stood there for a long moment, her breath coming in angry little pants as she glared at the space her mentor had been. She was only shook from her stare when she realized her little outburst had jostled the coffee, and some of the spilled liquid had reached the bottom of her fist on the table. "Ow!"

Clutching her hand, she had shifted the glare to the table like it had been the one to cause the burn before giving a frustrated groan and going to retrieve the washrag from the sink. She was just finishing cleaning up the mess she had caused when she heard a key slide into the lock of the door, the knob turning as her mother walked in. It took a second for her to be noticed, as her mom looked first at the light that was on before her eyes settled on Luz. "Mija! What are you doing up so late?"

"I.. Can't sleep." It was a weak excuse, and she could see it in her mom's face as she hastily turned to grab another mug from a cupboard. "I made coffee though."

There was a heavy sigh, but her mom did sit down at the small table next to her, taking the coffee and bringing it up for a drink. A soft noise of gratitude later and Luz watched her mom lean back and relax some. "So, tell me what is wrong. What is on your mind that is keeping you up?"

Luz paled, hesitating as she tapped her fingers against her own mug, not sure how to answer. If she was gonna try to be honest with herself, she might as well try to be with her mom. "I've.. Been thinking about the Boiling Isles again. ..A lot."

Her mom was quiet as she spoke and after, and Luz couldn't bear to look up and meet the woman's gaze. She could imagine the disappointment just fine on her own. "Is this why you wanted to see Dr. Knight?"

"Yes, mamá." She braced for another lecture about how she needed to live in the real world, not lose herself in some fantasy in her head. How she was missing out on what this place had to offer. She mentally prepared the usual comebacks. That she didn't fit in here. That she didn't feel like she was missing out with what this place could offer.

That she had felt more accepted in a world where Human was hissed like an insult.

But none of those lectures came. Instead, Camila only gave another sigh and took off her glasses to rub at her tired eyes. "I know it has been hard for you, mija. I don't understand why you have such trouble.." Luz frowned at that, looking back down at her coffee as shame rose within her, but one of her hands was pulled into a gentle hold. She didn't know why it was so hard, either. "But I don't think you made it up, even if I do not understand it. ¿Entiendes?"

She blinked, looking over and nodding slowly as her mother continued. Her eyes were wide, and she knew her face was locked into a surprised expression. "I love you, and the stories you have told me of that place.." The woman held a wistful smile for a moment. "I want to believe it's real, even if I feel it is not."

Luz felt tears begin their way down her cheeks again, the raw exposed nerve she had been scratching and itching at feeling, for the first time since she had seen Willow in her English class, like a soft warmth had been placed over it. Relief and comfort in the hope of validation. "You.. You don't think I'm crazy?"

A thumb rose to brush away the tears as her mom smiled. "Nunca, mija."

Biting at her lip, she sniffed and glanced away. "I've been seeing my friends, from time to time. They've been trying to tell me something."

There's a long pause, but it was comfortable as her mom took another drink, no trace of judgement or dismissiveness on her face. Only concern, acceptance, and no small amount of exhaustion. "What do they want, after three years?"

Luz sighed, shaking her head and shrugging. "Eda said there's a new portal.. But that I should stay away."

"Will you?"

She fidgeted slightly, caught off guard by how well her mother knew her thoughts. "I.. I want to see it, and I.. I _need_ to know that it was real." Luz closed her eyes, shutting them tight as she whispered out the next words, soft things she had never wanted to admit. "I want it so badly, mamá." She choked on a sob, leaning over the table as finally saying it left her feeling like something had sapped her strength from her. "I-I don't want to be like this."

There was movement, but she didn't dare open her eyes until arms wrapped around her shoulders, pulling her back to a quiet voice that whispered soft and calming words into her ear as she silently let herself cry. It took several minutes for her to wind down from being so worked up, her breathing steadying as she leaned into the embrace and gave a few wet sniffles as they hugged.

She was in shock, caught in the fact that she had said what she wanted for the first time since she had given up on ever going back.

And the fact that her mother seemed to accept it.

When her mom finally did pull away, she moved the chair she had been sitting in closer before she took a seat again, holding both of her hands and looking her right in the eye. "If you need this, then I want you to be careful." Luz blinked, displacing a few tears that had gotten caught on her eyelashes. "I don't want to see you hurt again, mija, and I want you to be happy. More than anything."

Her mom put emphasis on these words by squeezing her hands, which left her a little speechless as she looked down at them and then back up at the older woman's face. "Si saber te hará feliz, entonces vete."

"Thank you, mamá." Luz spoke softly as she was pulled in and a kiss was pressed against her forehead. When she was allowed to pull back, she looked down. "If it is real, and I wanted to go back.. ¿Me perdonarías?"

Slowly raising her gaze, she surprisingly found a warm smile waiting for her. "So long as you could come back to me again, mija." There was a playful slap at her knee. "And introduce me to all your friends!"

Luz's lips broke into a wide grin as she pulled her mother into a tight hug, thanking her over and over before Camila had to tap out, chuckling as she bid her goodnight and moved off down the hallway to her room. Her mom left the coffee half-drank on the table, and Luz found herself hoping it didn't keep the poor woman up any longer. She looked so worn out from the longer shifts she had been working lately.

But, her departure left Luz alone at the table once again, her emotions and thoughts racing as she tried to busy herself by washing out the two coffee cups and getting them loaded into the dishwasher. She turned and leaned back against the kitchen counter, drumming her fingers restlessly against it as she tried to fight the urge to leave right then to go and see if Eda had been right, if the portal was open again.

Her fight lasted all of a few seconds. She had spent so long questioning if it had been real or not, she knew now that unless she took advantage of the fact her mother had emboldened her, she would find a way to weasel out of it later.

She would fall back into the pattern of doubt and might lose a chance to see if she wasn't out of her mind, a chance that somewhere out there was somewhere she belonged.

Pushing off of the counter, she headed towards her room for a change of clothes and to write a note to leave for her mom.

* * *

Luz stopped in front of the wall mirror beside her door, making sure she had put her shirt on the right way, and adjusting its hem nervously. Her hands shook slightly, and there was an anxious burbling sensation in her stomach, causing her to grimace at her own reflection. She tried not to let the doubts slip in, the insidious voice the questioned what she even thought she was doing.

Of course there wasn't a portal.

Magic wasn't real.

Things like this didn't happen to her.

She busied herself with slipping on a pair of bright purple and white high top sneakers, pulling them up over her ankles and tightening the buckle that was strapped across the top of them in place of laces. They fit over the bottom hems of her pant legs, which were a dark pair of cargo pants, and they matched the flannel she was wearing over her white tee shirt.

Luz looked back into the mirror, at the faded pale violet and white plaid of the flannel, and smoothed out her collar, making sure her hair was pulled over it, leaving it bouncing just a couple inches above her shoulders. It was an attempt to buy any more time she could before she finally let out a shaky breath and let herself have a modicum of hope that she was about to learn that all that time on the Isles had been real.

Had she been at camp?

Her fingers were clutching the collar, bunching up the fabric between them as she stared at the expression that waited for her in the mirror. She should just stay here. Curl up on her bed and try not to think about this any further. It wasn't important, it wasn't real.

What came to mind surprised her. She remembered looking at what she assumed was a hallucination of Amity, the wild, desperate look in those golden eyes. The way she had grumbled and looked to have been an inch from screaming in frustration at the fact she could not see or hear Luz. A mane of brown and teal hair being gripped in a way that reminded her far too much of her own episodes of panic dealing with the last three years.

And, if she was wrong..

If all those moments with Amity had been real.

If magic did exist.

Luz stood up a little straighter, glancing back at the note she had wrote and left on her bed, a brief explanation to her mother about where she was going, and that she would be back later.

If she was right, she had lost her mind and imagined a whole world. She was pathetic.

If she was wrong, she wasn't the only one suffering from being disconnected. And she owed it to one of the best friends she had ever known to at least try. That thought filled her with warmth and a sense of purpose.

Steeling herself, she snatched her phone of her desk and headed to leave her room. She wasn't going to sit by and wait for her own doubts to erase a chance that she could see the people she loved again.

She wasn't going to fail her friend because she was scared.

Luz hesitated once more at the door to the apartment, just for a moment. With a deep breath, she twisted the knob and stepped out into a whole new idea of uncertainty.

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Realizing I hadn't ever even tried to describe what Luz was wearing and realizing I could put it in the context of her loudly trying to ignore her own thoughts was fun! Anyway, thank you again for the response to this fic, love reading your comments and I hope you're all enjoying how the story is unfolding! Lemme know what you think of this chapter, and I'll see ya next update! -Fox
> 
> Translations - Gentle reminder that I don't speak Spanish and I am very sorry if these translations are off.
> 
> "Mierda!" - "Shit!"
> 
> "¿Entiendes?" - "Do you understand?"
> 
> "Nunca, mija." - "Never, dear."
> 
> "Si saber te hará feliz, entonces vete." - "If knowing will make you happy, then go."
> 
> "¿Me perdonarías?" - "Would you forgive me?"


	5. Tear & Claw

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Luz sets out to determine what is real, and what isn't. Is she crazy? Is the portal back?
> 
> But nothing is simple, and it doesn't go how she expects.

* * *

**Chapter 5 - _Tear & Claw_**

* * *

Stepping out of the rideshare car, Luz thanked the driver as she stood on the edge of the sidewalk. Once the door was closed, he drove off in the space of a few seconds. A few hours drive. She hoped her mom wouldn't mind the charge on the account. She glanced back to watch the car disappear around the corner before turning to look at the house she now stood in front of.

It was the same house she had grown up in, but there was such a different feeling about it. Kids toys, lots of them, were scattered all over the lawn. It looked like the first few days of summer vacation had been eventful for the family that had moved in after she and her mom had left.

She allowed herself a few more moments to don a bittersweet smile at the thought of a whole new set of people making great memories in the same place she had before she turned and moved off into the woods that lay beyond the house. She hoped they ended up happier than she had been.

It wasn't hard to find the broken down cabin, it felt like her feet knew the path back to it by sheer muscle memory even after three years. The last time she had walked it had been with a baseball bat in hand, and a simmering rage in her heart.

As she neared the rotting porch, she reached over and ran her hand over one of the many dents in the nearest, unbroken column. A handful of trophies left from her last visit.

She had hit the wood over and over again, for what seemed like it had been hours until the snow had started to fall. She had exhausted herself until she just sat down on the cold ground, too tired to cry, her eyes raw from expended tears, and her throat too raw to scream anymore. That had been the day her mother had found her, and convinced her to see Dr. Knight.

The day she had accepted she was just broken in a way that normal people weren't.

Coming back here wasn't easy.

At least it was warmer.

At least it held a bit of hope.

Luz gnawed at the inside of a cheek as she tried to convince herself that it was somehow better, tried to ignore the little smug voice creeping into her head.

She had left this place behind knowing full well that she was either crazy, or she was never going to see the Boiling Isles again. Stuck in a world she did couldn't belong in, locked out from a world she could be accepted in.

Luz sighed, shaking her head to clear such dark thoughts. A bit of hope, and her mom's blessing this time. She had to hold to that little mantra, that little faith that had been placed in her for the first time in three years. Reaching for the doorknob, she stopped when the door creaked open on its own, very slowly revealing the interior of the cabin.

She frowned immediately as she moved to stand directly in front of the opening. It had been pitch black last time, she was sure of that. Even with the sun shining in, she hadn't seen anything inside the cabin except for Eda's tent. This time she could see all of the old, dusty furniture that lay broken and scattered through the entryway.

She tilted her head.

No portal, then.

A weary sigh escaped her, and Luz felt her heart begin to fall when she noticed a slight shimmer over the threshold, her eyes widening as they focused on it.

It had to be a trick of the light.

Reaching forward, she felt her fingers brush over.. Something. Just a touch of resistance, like she was touching the surface of a pool of thick liquid. She persisted and her hand passed through the thin, dark layer of a portal, disappearing from view entirely. Luz sucked in a heavy breath, her chest shuddering as it hitched inside her lungs in the beginnings of a sob.

She wasn't crazy.

It was real.

It had all been real.

Eda had really been talking to her. And Eda had been right! There was a new portal, but it wasn't the same as it had been last time. Luz pulled her hand back through, watching her fingers rematerialize across the shimmering threshold. The backdrop of the dilapidated cabin rippled for a moment, but she could still see the shattered wood of old furniture and the layer of undisturbed dust, almost like it was an illusion.

But her old mentor had warned her about this possibility too, that the portal was working again. That the Emperor was looking for her. Everything inside Luz yearned to step through, to join her friends once again on the Boiling Isles. It took a lot of effort to pull her hand full back through, to choose a better way to go about this.

First step, proof for her mom. That this was real, that her faith in her daughter wasn't so misplaced.

Luz pulled out her phone, scanning the ground as she stepped off of the porch. It took a minute for her to find a suitable palm-sized rock before she turned around with a grin, marching right back towards the portal.

Tapping the camera app, she pointed the lens at the portal, taking a deep breath. She bounced the stone in her hand a few times before tossing it through the door, watching as the ripples shimmered out and back, continuing on as if she had thrown the rock into the middle of a pond. She looked down at her screen, watching it repeat on there before she tapped the button to stop the recording.

A giddy laugh came from her, catching her a bit off guard as she realized she was smiling so wide that her cheeks were starting to hurt a little, not used to such things. Navigating over to her messages, she opened up the thread she shared with her mom, attaching the video and typing out a small text.

_Mamá, check it out! I found it!_

Luz laughed aloud, typing in several more happy emojis than was necessary, imagining her mom's face when she opened the message. There'd be so much to talk about when she got home! So much she had left out of her adventures on the Isles, things she had been afraid to relive with anyone in fear that the memories would become tainted with the same doubt she had felt about the entire experience.

Standing up to a bully with Willow and playing an extremely dumb magical sport in order to do so.

Escaping the Detention pit with Gus by a hair's breadth.

Rolling around in a force field in the middle of a tense witch's duel between sisters.

Breaking off a piece of the Emperor's mask with nothing more than a piece of paper and a bit of off-the-cusp inspiration.

Being dipped on top of a towering abomination by a green-haired witch who was haloed by the light of the moon.

That last one left her staring at a flush of red across her cheeks in her own front-facing camera as she tapped the little picture of the recording in the bottom left of the screen, wanting to replay the video in full as she was filled with a rush of giddiness again.

After all, all she needed to do now was wait for Eda to try and contact her again, so she could figure out what the plan was from their side. The portal was already here, so it had to be working on the other side. It would only be a matter of time before the Emperor, or rather his goons, came looking for her in this world. She shuddered at the thought, but given that the spell her friends had been using to try and reach her hadn't seemed to be working right, there must be something wrong with the portal, too.

They would've come through already to get her, so she was safe. For now. She told herself this as she watched the recording of the rock going through with a smile.

And far away from the Human Realm, a cloaked figure was pacing the room, filling it with echoes of their footsteps. There was a clatter that drew their attention, pulling them from frustrated thoughts of failure.

A rock tumbled down marble stairs, sliding across the smooth floor to stop just inches from their boots.

The figure bent down to look at it, picking it up with apprehension before turning their gaze to the wide circle of swirling darkness that sat at the top of those stairs.

* * *

Luz felt the smile she wore through her whole body, down to her very bones. She hadn't been this happy in a long time, letting out an excited hum as she swiped down to close the video and then locked her phone, moving to place it back in her pocket.

Something caught her attention, her eyes sliding over just as ripples appeared in the doorway, intensifying as she watched in stunned silence. A moment later, the hand holding her phone was caught by the wrist, dropping the device as it was wrenched through the shimmering expanse. "What?!" There was a tearing motion with her wrist, and pain shot up through her arm, ripping a panicked scream from her as she was nearly pulled right in to the portal.

The grip was crushing down on her wrist, and Luz could feel her joints strain and the bones grind together, feeling as though they would snap as she just managed to throw her body against the door frame. Her free hand caught on it, fingers digging into the small ledge enough that she felt her trimmed nails pushed back and begin to ache. But she held on, and she dug her fingers into the splintered wood to pull herself closer to the house and keep herself from being dragged entirely past the portal's horizon. Her nose was an inch from the ripples. They were inky black at this distance. It took just another moment of resistance before the grip was suddenly released, leaving her to stumble back.

Luz barely caught herself from tumbling back onto her butt, pulling her hand free of the portal. But there was no chance to back further away. A hand, clawed and translucent, tore through the surface and grabbed her by the chin, attempting to lift her off of her feet. She felt her nails dig into the wood as she resisted. A new sound came from her, something it took a second for her to realize was a scream of pain as the claws dug into her cheeks and chin, a sizzling sound filling the air before the direction of the tension shifted and her head was instead pulled through the doorway.

Flailing out her free hand to keep the rest of her from following, her eyes were open and her screams were now echoing into an endless void.

There was only blackness on this side of the portal, a strange absence of anything.

Nothingness.

Limbo.

And before her, eyes.

Two spectral eyes that glared an angry bright violet that matched the arm and clawed hand that was currently cutting into her face as it tried to rip her past the doorway. "N-no!" Her shout was coated in the panic that had her heart hammering in her chest, her pulse thundering through the veins in her neck as she strained away from the hateful gaze staring back at her. She managed to plant her feet, back in her world, and used her handholds on either side of the door frame to wrench herself back from the grip.

Luz hadn't meant to let out another scream of pain, but she felt those claws sink in and rip as they desperately tried to keep hold of her as she leaned her back. Suddenly, she was free and falling back into the Human Realm, tumbling back and slamming shoulder first into the porch. There was a sharp snap of a rotten floorboard and the sickening splash of blood freely flowing from her chin as she panted for the breath to even whimper.

But she was free.

The grip had been lost from whatever was trying to force her through the portal, and as she tried to move herself to a position that didn't ache quite so much, she felt fingers wrap around her left ankle. "Let me go!" The entity began to drag her once again, this time feet first, through the shimmering black of the doorway.

Luz scrambled to find something grab, only finding purchase where her shoulder had broken one of the wooden boards of the porch. Holding herself steady, she kicked her legs wildly to try and dislodge her attacker as splinters dug into both palms. Her feet found no purchase on anything to kick, and one of those claws closed about the knee of her free leg and squeezed painfully, pulling her with a force she couldn't resist for long. "Let. Me. Go!"

The entity didn't listen, and the situation only grew worse from there as she noticed the shimmering ripples of the doorway shifting. From where her waist now struggled, each ripple ran out and returned. The problem was that the edge it returned from was shrinking down around her, and when it impacted where those spectral arms were reaching through, it shuddered and a shockwave was sent out. The portal was growing unstable. Quickly.

"N-no, no, no!"

Luz didn't want to know what it closing around half of her would do.

Strangely enough, it seemed the entity didn't want to find out either. Her legs were freed from the vice-like grip of those hands just as she began to feel the pressure of those ripples closing in around her stomach. With only a few moments to find something, anything on the other side to give her some leverage to push off of and bring herself back through, she kicked her heels down desperately.

Nothing.

It was just empty void.

Nothing but darkness, like she had seen.

The boundary of the portal began to warble and crackle. The ripples vibrated back and forth between her body and the edges faster and faster, generating a crushing sensation around her belly.

There was no more time to escape.

Her eyes, wide and wild, searched for anything to help for a half second before they settled on her fallen phone. Letting go of the broken board, Luz snatched up the device before turning herself over onto her stomach. She put the pain in her limbs out of her mind, she paid no heed to the splotches of red growing on the porch beneath her.

Luz forced herself up onto her hands and then pushed off, towards the portal.

She held her breath, like she was about to go underwater, as the surface tension washed over her.

The doorway did the rest of the work, pulling her in.

Then she got a front row seat as the portal she barely got through collapsed and, at least on this side, exploded outward and sent her hurtling through the darkness.

* * *

It was like a rollercoaster.

Luz tried to tell herself that as she tumbled head over heels through the emptiness, wind whipping and howling all about her as she entered an uncontrolled free fall.

The worst rollercoaster. That was her follow up thought just as she felt her stomachs contents beginning to rise.

That put a stop to her screams of terror that were being lost to the strange wind that ripped through this empty space, quickly closing her mouth to hold the bile back as she made a gagging noise. There was no light, no features in this place that she could use to orient herself and get her fall under some control.

Luz feared she was about to throw up and pass out at the same time when suddenly her spinning began to slow. She wasn't sure it was happening at first, but she began to spin and rotate in ways she was not controlling, coming to a stop after a long minute. Terror was still being pumped from her pounding heartbeat as she hovered in the darkness and the sudden silence, but still she looked around. There was no point of gravity to discern which way was down, and no momentum left in her fall, like she had been plucked out of the air by something.

Then her shoes softly touched down on something hard. Gasping as she looked down, Luz felt no relief as she realized she was sitting on a solid, floating platform. Some kind of yellowish-white material that she really didn't want to know if it was bone or not. There was other pieces too, forming a larger shape.

To her growing sense of horror, she realized it was a hand, with bony fingers ending in claws gently curled as if she were standing the palm of a long dead person.

A giant dead person.

A thought that proved to be more correct than she had hoped, as two sparks of white fire instantly leapt to life in front of her, illuminating hollow sockets and the sharply angled features of a skull. A massive, horned skull, large enough that filled her whole field of vision as it leaned in to study her closer, those fires staring down at her as if they were still eyes.

Luz yelped and cowered, taking a step back before having to stop as she worried that a step too far would leave her plummeting back into all the nothingness. But then she froze, her eyes catching a detail through her fingers, and the aches and pains of her body were forgotten as she took a step forward and let her hands fall away from her face.

She didn't notice that her blood was still running down her chin and now stained her palms, splattering onto the palm below her.

She didn't notice that she was no longer terrified, her heart finally calming as if sensing that she had been caught by an entity that was not malevolent.

Luz was too busy staring, because she had seen those horns before.

A massive, bassy hum sounded out around her, sounding not unlike a noise of curiosity at the way she looked at the skull and it looked at her. The rumble shook deep into her chest from the sheer proximity to the bones making the noise, and in the aftermath it was so quiet that she could finally hear the soft impacts as droplets of red fell onto the palm that held her from her bleeding chin. She groaned as she sniffed in pain, raising her hands to try and stem the flow as much as she could.

As bizarre as it was, she was about to apologize to the entity before her when a bony claw descended from above, wreathed in the same white glow as the fires that lit those sockets. "Uh.." She leaned back a bit, but the tip of the claw just extended towards her and lightly tapped her chest. Her eyes widened as the glow flooded into her body.

For a moment nothing happened, leaving her confused. Then there was a surge that felt like electricity was coursing through every part of her body, lightning running through every vein. It crackled and swept through and around her, coaxing a surprised scream from her before the palm slowly lowered and tilted until finally she skittered off the edge and fell between two of the fingers, her hands sweeping out wildly to try and catch herself.

Luz fell, and fell, watching those two white flames grow smaller and smaller until they finally winked out in the darkness above her.

But it wasn't all darkness this time.

There was a growing light from what was below her as she fell, and she turned herself as quickly as she could so she could face it. It was approaching rapidly, growing wider and wider until it struck her what it was she was looking at.

Skies of swirling red and filled with white clouds, rib bones stretching up towards her. Her gasp was lost in the wind rushing by her, but her eyes focused on what appeared to a thin sheen of a shining barrier that separated the Boiling Isles from wherever she was now, in this dark and not-so-empty limbo.

But her movement didn't slow as she slammed into that barrier, knocking the air that remained in her lungs from her as it felt like she had just belly flopped into water from a few feet too high. Her eyes burned from the adjustment of going from mostly darkness to too much light all at once. Arcs of lightning crashed and streaked across the sky from where she had hit the barrier, accompanied by thunderous booms, stretching out like cracks in a glass window from her.

What little relief Luz might have felt from no longer being stuck in an endless void inhabited by a skeletal giant was cut off by a scream as she continued to fall towards the rapidly approaching ground. Her eyes darted about, thoughts racing for a way, any way, out of this situation.

She had nothing to write a glyph on.

Not that she knew a glyph that could help in this situation.

A sickening notion that she was hurtling right to the busiest market road of Bonesborough entered her mind, almost teasing her that she was about to become a very messy puddle a stone's throw away from where she had first entered the Isles three years ago in Eda's tent.

She could see people below staring up at the sky, but it was clear they were distracted by the light show her arrival had caused and had not noticed the Human falling from it. Or at least, that was how it felt until she saw one hand point at her, and another figure darting from the crowd.

A blazing bright blue circle burned into existence a dozen feet below her, wide enough that she fell right through it with a yelp.

Luz choked on a breath as her stomach lurched and she found herself suddenly falling.. Up?

The confusion in her thoughts grew as her momentum slowed from being tossed in the opposite direction. A brief hope struck through her heart as she felt gravity slowly begin to reverse once again, and she looked back just in time to see another spell circle waiting for her to fall in.

Suddenly changing direction had been weird the first time, but this one gave her whiplash as she went from falling to moving sideways, hitting into something much softer than the ground she had expected to.

Arms wrapped around her back and knees, hands clutched onto her, and she heard a loud 'oomph!' as she knocked the person who had caught her on to the ground with what little momentum had remained from her fall. But her rescuer wasn't perturbed by being taken down as he looked past her and triumphantly yelled. "I got her!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh man that scene in limbo was actually the first idea I wrote down for this fic! Glad I got to it early, and I hope I didn't draw out the idea of Luz having not been to the Isles too long, I wanted to make sure that I established it was part of who she is in this AU without going to the point where people stopped reading because it not being real is.. Kinda boring for a fic about her relationships with the characters she left behind? Anyway, hope it worked out. Thanks again for reading, commenting and leaving kudos(WHEN DID WE BREAK 100?! You guys are awesome! <3) and hope you're all still keeping safe and finding ways to be happy out there! 'Til next time! -Fox


	6. On Reunions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Luz is back in the Boiling Isles, reeling from whatever it was that just happened. She's injured, but luckily has been caught by an old friend who might be able to help.

* * *

**Chapter 6 - _On Reunions_**

* * *

"E-Edric?!"

Luz didn't quite know how to process all that had happened in the past several minutes. The attack at the portal, falling through nothingness, a bone giant, and finally being guided back to the Boiling Isles. She knew that she was being held, that she hadn't become a messy puddle in the middle of a very large crowd of witches and demons.

"Long time, no see, Luz!" Her vision swirled as she felt the toll that the journey had taken on her stomach finally turn on her, causing the Blight twin's amber eyes to widen. "Uh oh, turn this way." He helped set her down on the ground, quickly moving her off of him so she could move more easily.

She lurched over to the side, planting her palms on the road as she threw up. Groaning as she wiped at her mouth and tried not to question what there had even been to throw up besides coffee, Luz heard the sound of rapid steps approaching the two of them. She couldn't focus on that though, her heartbeat finally calming to the point where she could feel the pain along her jawline, and notice the red droplets falling onto the ground below.

Her vision swam as another lurch from her stomach had her leaning forward again and retching, adding to the liquid that ran between the cobblestones of the road. She leaned back and wipe at the back of her mouth with a groan, feeling the tearing sensation on her cheeks.

"Oh thank the Titan, you caught her!"

"Of course I caught her, you occasionally manage to have good aim."

The tail of a long dark green braid drifted into her vision as hands touched her shoulders and pulled her away from the mess she had made, bringing her face to face with the wild and angry expression of Emira Blight. "Did you use the absolute worst portal possible to come here?!"

"I-I didn't mean to." Luz stared into those golden eyes for a moment before she looked up, staring towards the sky. Talons holding a house aloft in their grip, a rib bone stretching even further than that. The sky looked like someone had punched a hole in it, with lightning still crackling around it. It was dying down, she realized, and would soon be back to normal. "I'm.. Back?"

"You.. Didn't mean to?" That didn't seem to ease any concerns as her gaze was drawn back down by the way the older girl's voice lost the hard edge of berating her for a softer tone of worry. There was a noise before she was drawn into a hug that elicited a groan of pain from her, and the witch immediately withdrew, looking guilty. "Oh, sorry!"

"Uh, Luz, I'm no expert. But are Humans supposed to bleed like that?" Edric's voice was coated in the same worry she had heard in Emira's, causing her to bring a palm to her chin and hiss in pain as she felt the gashes the claws had left there.

"Not usually." She almost wanted to laugh at his absurd question, but she was sure the movement would only cause another spike of pain. "Ow."

But while he was beginning to freak out watching her sit back and gingerly hold her torn up cheeks in an attempt to staunch the flow, Emira had dug out her scroll and was typing away furiously on its surface. "Don't worry, Luz. I know someone who can help." There was a grunt as she elbowed her twin in the side. "Ed, stop staring and get her something to put pressure on those."

"R-right!" The boy gave her a sheepish smile as he kneeled down in front of her, using his finger to quickly complete a spell circle, pulling a white rag from thin air. He gently pushed her hands aside and pressed it against her cheeks, covering her mouth and causing her to groan. A sympathetic smile spread over his lips as he let out a chuckle. "Sorry, Luz."

She almost told him it was okay before grimacing and settling on a shrug instead. It gave her a moment to study the twins. Three years had really let them grow into their own. They were still taller than her, still the same height as one another. Edric's hair had grown out some and was styled back, while Emira's braid seemed to be a lot longer than it had been. The most apparent difference was in the way they dressed. No matter if it was school, out in Bonesborough, even when they met up at the Knee or at Grom, they had always matched. Now they both had separate, distinct styles. Emira's robe was embroidered and almost regal looking, aside from a smear of what Luz hoped was just her blood on one shoulder, while Edric wore a dark blue tunic with white markings decorating much of it.

They had both become more attractive than she remembered, a stray thought that made her cheeks burn as she realized they had just saved her life and were now concentrating on taking care of her. That would be her, bleeding and in pain, checking out two very cute people like the useless bi girl she was.

If they noticed her blush, they mercifully didn't say anything about it as Edric placed her hands on either side of the cloth to hold it in place. "Can you stand?"

Luz had to think about it for a moment before giving a brisk nod, and both of them moved to grab underneath her shoulders and pull her up. She swayed unsteadily for a moment, held up by them before she found her feet for the first time after her fall through.. Whatever she had been pulled into after the portal.

They led her over to a nearby wooden crate, sitting her down upon it as she closed her eyes and focused on breathing in and out in order to avoid thinking about the pain. The twins didn't say anything more to her, but she could feel Edric sit down beside her and rub slow circles on her back to comfort her as they waited for whatever help Emira had been talking about.

She was back.

She was _really_ back.

* * *

It took a few more minutes of quiet before Luz knew who they had texted, as the newcomer arrived with the screech of a griffin that drew all three of their gaze skyward as its large wings beat several times before its feet slammed into the cobblestone. Wings folding up, the griffin seemed to know who the Blights were, as it immediately walked over to start getting pet and scratched under the beak by Emira. "Hey, Puddles. Good boy."

Luz's eyes widened as the witch who had rode the griffin in slipped off its back, her school uniform still torn up and showing two different Track colors. The witch's brown hair had grown out, with bangs that framed her face and the messy bun seemingly sticking out in a small spiral of stray hairs behind her head. "Em, you didn't say the person in trouble was Luz!"

"I-I didn't know you knew her?"

Viney practically sprinted the few feet to the crate, her green eyes narrowed in focus and her expression all business-like as she moved to peel the rag away from Luz's face. Wincing as a few pieces of dried blood went with it, she squeezed her eyes a bit before opening them. "We met in Detention."

It was Edric who let out a loud laugh at that. "Yeah, no, that makes a lot of sense."

Luz wanted to throw him a playful glare, as if to say 'Hey!', but her chin was caught in the calloused grip of the witch in front of her, so she settled on a sidelong glance that he just grinned innocently at. "Hm, these are pretty deep. And it looks like they burned a little, too? What even caused this?"

Viney's question was directed over a shoulder, and golden eyes appeared right above it as Emira peered down at Luz. "Uh, no idea. She literally just exploded through the sky and when we caught her she was bleeding."

"That was her?! Everyone was talking about it at school, but no one mentioned someone falling through it!"

That was her. Not even a full hour back and she'd caused a big enough scene that everyone on Isles had likely seen the light show. She wanted to groan in a sense of embarrassment, but Viney's expression was one of pride in her, before it was swiftly washed away by the same focused professionalism she had held earlier. A spell circle was drawn, and energy rushed over Luz's face.

The pain lessened immediately, bringing a wave of relief as she felt the tension in her shoulders subside. Her jaw felt less like it was gonna tear open and more like she had simply fallen right on her face a few hours ago. It was a nice change, even if the ache still remained. "Oh, man, I love magic. Thanks, Viney!"

"Don't talk." Her smile was wiped away from the admonishment as the witch's hands gently moved her head to inspect the cuts on her cheeks again. "That was just a pain relief spell.. But, you're welcome." Green eyes flicked to hers and the girl gave her a small smile as the twins both chuckled at their exchange.

Luz resisted the urge to nod and instead stood as still as she could manage. Viney took a step back, bringing both of her hands together like she was about to grab her own wrists in each hand. She drew spell circles around her wrists, bright blue energy glowing and settling into place there.

The witch moved close, holding her chin still with a gentle hold in one hand while her other pointed its index finger at the cuts, making precise movements. Luz could feel the effect almost immediately as what little pain remained from that gash bled away, and the skin knitting together with the help of the healing magic. She had seen scrapes and bruises be washed away in a flash of light before, but this was something much more advanced than she had ever seen before.

The process lasted a few minutes as the biggest cut, the one on her left cheek, was sealed. Then the witch moved to the two gashes on her right cheek, each rising up from the jawline to end just shy of where the left one had. Viney finished with the two that Luz hadn't felt, small lacerations just under her right ear where the clawed hand had grabbed her. Relief was almost immediate, but she couldn't help but notice that Emira was making a face as she watched. Their eyes met, and that expression disappeared for a moment as the Blight girl instead flashed her a winning smile and a thumbs up.

She couldn't help but notice that the girl healing her kept looking back at the gashes that had already been healed.

"Aaaand, there!" The witch in front of her leaned back and turned her head to the right and to the left, inspecting her work. "Hm."

Luz felt her expression drop. "What does that mean?"

"Well, I.. I've never had that happen." Viney's words only caused her eyebrows to raise as she wondered what was going on.

"Um..?"

"Here. I'll show you." Emira saved her, thankfully, stepping forward and quickly opening her scroll to present the front-facing camera. The screen tilted towards her, revealing her hair that was still sticking off in every direction it could after her fall. Luz reached up to smooth it back down but froze she realized what the witches had been looking at. On her jaw and cheeks were three angry-looking scars against her tanned skin. One sat on the left side, from her jawline to mid-cheek, and two on the right that were shorter but no less deeply cut into her skin.

"Oh man." She turned her head to look a bit closer at them. "My mom is gonna kill me." She glanced up when no one reacted to that, forcing a smile through the worries that pulled at the edge of her thoughts at seeing the scars. They all looked way too serious about this. "Guys, I'm joking, she's just gonna be a little mad. Viney, thank you for healing me, really!"

Viney's worried expression melted into a laugh, but she couldn't help but notice that the two Blight's reactions were more.. Genuine relief. She didn't have much time to ponder it though, as the witch who had healed her moved forward to grab her hand, looking at her bruised wrist that had been grabbed. "I'm sorry. I dunno why it scarred over like that, I think it might be because you're Human?"

There was enough uncertainty in the healer's voice that when Luz looked over at her, Viney already had a shrug waiting. It was as good an explanation as any.

"Yeah, speaking of that.." Edric spoke up, looking back over his shoulder at the sky that was still home to the freak lightning storm her arrival had caused, but it did seem to be dying down as time passed. "What exactly happened with all this? I thought the portal was destroyed."

"No offense, Luz, but Ed has a point. How are you even here?"

She stared at Emira for a long moment before sighing, looking down and shrugging. "I don't even know. I was minding my own business back in.. Uh, my world." Wow, that felt weird to say after denying it for so long. "When people started popping up and trying to talk to me! Eventually Eda told me that they were worried the portal had been opened again."

"So I went to check it out." She left out the part about how she was supposed to stay away from it, best not to think about that whole mess that was waiting for her with Eda. "When I did, something grabbed me and tried to pull me in. I, uh, tried to fight it and.." Luz gestured at her own face as all three of the witches listened, to highlight it was the thing that had done this to her. "The portal was closing on me, and the thing just let me go so it wouldn't be cut in half. Then I had to go through the portal so _I_ wouldn't be cut in half! It sorta.. Exploded as it closed, and then I was falling from the sky here."

There was a shared glance between the two illusionists, and Luz silently hoped she wasn't as obvious as she felt at leaving out whatever the heck she had fallen through between the portal in her world and the sky of this one. Some sort of limbo, she guessed? A loud pop and a flash of pain caused her to tense up as she whimpered, trying to withdraw her wrist from Viney's grasp on instinct. After a moment, the pain subsided to a dull ache, and then was washed away entirely by the magical energy from the healer. "..Ow."

The witch only smirked at her. "Nothing is broken, and that was just a sprain. Should be good as new by tomorrow morning. You are quite lucky, Luz."

"Yeah! If Em and I hadn't been in the market, you'd be a stain on the road." Edric shuddered as he clearly just thought about the mental image he had created.

Luz let out a nervous chuckle, her mirth stolen as her eyes widened, her mind running back through the last few minutes. She had gone from relief to terror and then relief to terror a handful of times in such a short amount of time. The luckiest thing was that she hadn't had a heart attack yet! She felt herself go pale at realizing she'd avoided a handful of close brushes with death and shook her head, letting out a slow breath to calm herself down. "Right.. Um, thank you for catching me, by the way."

"Don't mention it, cutie."

Emira's pet name for her made her blush, and the victorious grin on the girl's face told her it had been intentional. But Edric just laughed, shaking his head. "Yeah, can you imagine if we had let you fall? Mittens would literally kill us, after al-" His words were cut off with a grunt as his sister elbowed him in the gut.

The nickname made Luz's eyes widen as reality sunk in again, not quite catching the way the Emira had interrupted her brother, or what it could mean. "Amity! Oh my gosh I've gotta let Amity know I could see her!" She hopped off of the edge of the crate, excitedly moving to stand up for a moment before she instead wobbled on her feet, still clearly recovering from the ordeal that had been actually arriving back on the Boiling Isles. She only managed to remain standing because Viney caught her shoulders and held her upright, settling her down quite a bit as she donned a sheepish smile. "Sorry.. It's just been a long three years."

"It's alright, we're all glad to see you again. Just.. Don't get hurt." The brunette gave her a warm smile before pulling her into a short hug. Stepping back, the witch made another spell circle and Luz watched as the blood that had been splashed onto her clothes and her hands lifted away before congealing in a tight ball that was disintegrated into tiny little shards of sparkling blue magical energy. A cursory glance down told her that Viney had just saved her shirt and her flannel from the stains, and she gave a grateful smile to the girl. "Okay, she's not bleeding any more and I have to go explain to Mr. Harrow why I just jumped onto Puddles and flew off in the middle of the sky breaking. See you around, troublemaker."

"Bye, Viney!" The witch gave her wink before walking over to the griffin who had been idly pecking at stray bugs in the road. Luz was more caught in the way Emira turned to follow the healer, threading their hands together as they moved next to the beast. Her curiosity turned to wide eyes that quickly averted as the Blight twin pulled the other girl into a deep kiss. She made a strangled noise of surprise before looking way, her cheeks burning. "Uh.. How long has _that_ been a thing?"

Edric, who had been staring at the scars on her right cheek and studying them with a frown, looked up to follow her gaze before giggling at his sister. "Oh, our last year at Hexside. Should've seen them at Grom, Em was such a mess that Viney had to ask herself out on Em's behalf because she couldn't finish a sentence without stammering. I had pictures, but uh.. Em had blackmail."

"Last year.." Glancing over at the green hair boy, who was grinning at her as she finally caught on. "Oh. My. Gosh. You guys graduated! You joined a Coven!"

"Yup! We're card carrying members of the Illusion Coven, now." He wore a large grin as he lightly bumped his knuckles against her shoulder, but there was a moment when his expression fell in a way that seemed almost.. Sad? It was gone so quickly she thought she must have imagined it. "Luckily for you, too, Mirror doors like the ones Em used to catch you are a Coven speciality."

Luz smirked, pushing back against him playfully. She was fairly certain she'd seen Eda use that spell before, but it wasn't saying much that the Owl Lady had access to magic the Covens tried to keep under wraps. Because of course she would. "Yeah, yeah.. Thank you, though. Really, Ed." He waved dismissively, like it wasn't a big deal they had just saved her life. That made her feel warm inside, the idea that this thing they had done for her was just something they would do for a friend. "So, what about you, who are you dating?"

"Me? Oh, uh.. No one." Edric's face lit up with uncertainty as he laughed shakily. She could tell he was trying to play off the question, but she sensed there was something else behind it. "There was this person, but lately, uh.. I-I dunno."

Luz caught his meaning and made a sympathetic noise before moving to pull him into a tight hug. "Aw, I'm sure you'll figure it out!" She let out a surprised squeak when she found herself quickly sandwiched between both twins as Emira returned from saying goodbye to Viney. She pulled away from the embrace feeling that warm, comfortable feeling once again, a hand on both of their shoulders as they grinned down at her. "It's so good to see both of you again."

"Back at'cha." Emira snickered, pushing a hand through Luz's messy hair to smooth it down some. "So, you off to see Mittens, or the Owl Lady?"

Before she could even swat at the hand fixing her appearance, Luz felt a chill in her chest as she realized that she would have to explain to Eda exactly _why_ she was back here, why she hadn't stayed away. "I think I should go see Eda first. I've got.. Some explaining to do."

"Oh I know that voice, someone is in trouble!"

"C'mon Ed, be nice, she's still overwhelmed."

Chuckling nervously, she nodded. She was overwhelmed. This had been, and she had to put it very lightly in her thoughts, _not_ how she thought today was going to go. "He's not wrong though.."

Edric just snickered playfully while Emira rolled her eyes at her brother. "True. Need me to go with you?"

Blinking as she looked up at the green-haired witch, she shook her head slowly. "N-no I should be-it should be fine. You guys have already done so much!"

"Like we said, don't mention it." Edric clapped a hand on her shoulder in support, a wide grin on his lips. "Though there's this whole _thing_ about Humans with the Emperor right now, so.." He looked at his sister, who nodded after a second of that twin communication she would never be able to pick up, and he traced a circle in the air, holding it with an open hand that slowly rotated this way and that. The blue of the spell was subtler than the ones they had cast earlier, and when nothing apparent happened she just tilted her head in confusion. "Oh, I do _good_ work!"

Emira was wearing a dangerous little smirk as she pulled out her scroll and tapped a few times on the screen before handing it to Luz. "It is some of your best, I think. I like her round ears better, but this isn't a bad look!" Em leaned forward to make a better effort of cleaning up Luz's hair, sweeping both hands through the tousled locks while she looked down at the device.

It was her, obviously. But it was different.

A witch version of herself.

Her eyes were the same color, mostly. Warm brown gave way to an inner ring of bright gold around her pupils, not unlike the hue of the twin's eyes themselves. Longer and slightly larger ears ended in sharp points, and she tried to turn her head to get a closer look at them before it was suddenly pushed back into place by Emira playing with her hair.

She was staring at the illusory pointed ears when she noticed them twitch, and felt it too. After a moment, they flicked up and down as her expression changed. Reaching up, she touched one and felt it twitch between her fingers. The sensitive flesh wasn't an illusion, it was her real ear! Luz gasped, looking up at Edric, who had his head tilted and was admiring his own work. "It's a polymorph spell! Should keep you under the radar for a while. With luck, everyone else was distracted with the light show you caused to realize that there was a person in it.." He brought his free hand to his chin as he studied her. "Hm, scars? No scars?"

The question didn't seem directed at anyone in particular at first, so she startled a bit when she realized he wanted her opinion.

"Do they.." Luz fought an inner voice to ask the question on her mind since she had seen them on her face, an inner voice that had taken all the bullying back in the Human Realm to heart. That whispered about everything from the color of her skin to the way she cut her hair in her most vulnerable moments. "Do they look bad?"

Emira pulled her bangs forward a bit, sweeping them out to the left side of her face before pausing and looking down at her. It took a second, but Luz could see that the Blight twin had caught the waver in her voice, and it looked like Em had recognized the insecurity for what it was. A warm smile spread on the girl's lips as she reached down and gently traced over her jawline with the tips of fingers. "You're still a cutie, but they do make you look.. Hm, fierce. Like you're a bit of a bad boy, too."

Luz sucked in a breath at the light touch and the genuine compliments from the older girl, her cheeks warming as she looked at Edric, who was nodding in agreement, and gave him a nod of her own. "Scars it is, then!" He dropped his hand that had been holding the completed glowing circle, letting the spell finish. "Now, polymorphing is not technically illegal.."

"But it's also not technically legal.." Emira snickered, stepping back to admire her own work in fixing Luz's appearance before she elaborated. "What we mean is that places like the Conformatorium or the Emperor's Castle will have wards that will dispel it, but you should be avoiding those places anyway. There's laws about attempting to pass as other species and all that, lots of paperwork involved, but given that Belos has gone a bit crazy for Humans lately.. Well, better to break the law."

"I'm not getting you guys into trouble, am I?" Her eyes had widened exponentially as the implications of what they were saying sunk in.

The twins just laughed, though, sharing fearless grins with one another before Edric explained. "If we were worried about a few rules, we'd never be where we are today. And after all, we're helping an old friend!"

Emira put her hand on her shoulder. "And we get the added benefit of Mittens probably having a heart attack when she sees you like this." That made her ears feel warm, in a way that they didn't normally. Tilting her head to the side in confusion at that, Luz was about to question the statement when the witch suddenly cut her off. "The spell will last until it's dispelled, and you will look and feel like a witch 'til then to anyone who inspects it."

"It takes a bit of my magic to maintain it, but it's for a good cause." Edric beamed at her. "But instead of dispelling it, people can just wave a truthfire spell around, or drink a truesight potion."

Emira demonstrated, gesturing for Luz to look into the scroll before the witch conjured a small blue flame in her palm, holding it close to her newly-witchified face. "Like this." The spell wore away in a wave as the fire moved closer, but it reappeared when the fire was moved away. "It's only temporary, but I think everyone in the Emperor's Coven knows that trick. Illusionists and Oracle Coven members will know it too, so you'll still need to be careful."

"Guys, this is.." Luz felt tears at the corners of her eyes as she tried to find the words to express her gratitude, immediately wiping at her eyes to hide any tears. Less than an hour back, she'd found old friends who had saved her and were now protecting her. In lieu of words, she pulled them both into a tight hug, one that was returned with soft chuckles as the twins both lightly patted her back.

She pulled away only after taking a long moment to savor the feeling in her chest. Despite everything that had happened and the time that had passed, they had welcomed her back with open arms. Emira had gotten a little misty eyed as well, trying to pass it off as mumbling about an eyelash getting stuck in her eye when Edric spoke up. "Look, if you wanna make it up to us, just let Mittens know we say hi and that we miss her, okay?"

Luz blinked a few times, the warm feeling fading a bit in the face of a dark sense of curiosity. What had happened between them and Amity? "I-I can do that. But, why?"

It was Em who answered, as her twin looked away awkwardly and rubbed the back of his neck. "It's a.. A long story, ask her about it. Just tell her we love her." It didn't sit right with her to leave it at that, but Luz filed it away to ask Amity, whenever she got the chance to.

They said their goodbyes shortly after that, both of the twins sheepishly admitting that they were supposed to be on Coven business to begin with. She had watched them go with a smile that caused the remaining ache of her jaw and chin to flare up a bit, leading to her rubbing over the now present bumps of new scars.

Luz frowned, hoping that the twins had been honest with telling her how they thought it looked now. She wasn't too worried about it. Maybe.

Okay maybe it bothered her that whatever that thing had been had left a permanent mark. People back in her world hadn't exactly considered her cute to begin with, and people here just saw her as a Human.

Not to mention an accomplished healer like Viney hadn't known why they couldn't be healed right.

Sighing, she looked down the road, seeing people just now begin to leave the markets, chattering excitedly about the sudden lightning storm that had cracked through the sky. She took in a deep breath, pushing down her doubts and the confusing mixture of emotions that being back here was causing, and got her bearings.

It would be a bit of a walk to the Owl House. But, Luz reasoned, that gave her plenty of time to explain what just happened to Eda.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A bit of happy interactions, finally! I gotta say, playing around with what spells the twins would know now was a lot of fun, really looking forward to some later ideas of mine and how the spells will factor into that. Thank you all for reading, as always, I appreciate the comments and kudoes, love knowing you guys are enjoying it! Now, with the next chapter this first part of the Banished AU is coming to a close, and I'm sure you guys have seen that this is part of a series. The second part will be up as part of that series, and I'll have a rough timeline as to when by the time I post Chapter 7. Anyway, thank you again for reading, I'd love to hear what you think! 'Til next time! -Fox


	7. Homeward Found

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Luz makes her way back to the Owl House, still struggling with her engrained self doubts, even as she reunites with old friends.

* * *

**Chapter 7 - _Homeward Found_**

* * *

Despite knowing that Edric's spell would make her look like a witch, Luz still felt completely out of place walking down the streets of Bonesborough. It felt like everyone and every thing she passed by was staring at her, even though most spared her no more than a passing glance or a polite nod. One particular creature, a massive worm of some type, slowly slithered across the road, tossing a look in her direction and a 'pardon, ma'am.' in a thick Southern drawl that left her blinking.

The Boiling Isles was a taste she would have to acquire again. That thought actually brought a small smile to her lips and a bit of a skip back to her steps.

But she knew her paranoia was also a good idea. If how worried Eda and the twins had been about it was warranted, the Emperor was looking for a Human, and he was way past being subtle about it. And in classic Luz fashion, she had delivered herself right to his front door.

Luz paused as she noticed a nearby wall that was covered in wanted posters. Glancing about to make sure that no one was watching, she skittered over and looked at the papers. Some were haphazardly posted over others, and there were dozens that were old enough they fallen apart to the point of not being readable anymore. It was apparent from just a minute of looking, there wasn't a poster for Eda anymore. She didn't see one for Lilith, either.

There was one with a drawing that looked suspiciously like her, offering a reward of three hundred thousand snails for any Human. She pulled it off the wall, staring at the terrifying row of teeth the artist had given the 'Human' in the drawing. It definitely was drawn by someone who had been told about Humans second or third hand, and it would almost be funny if it hadn't caused her heartbeat to spike at how new this poster was.

Three years and her spine still grew cold at the very thought of Belos hunting her, of his voice, the feeling that it was invading into her mind when he spoke, that it laid bare her deepest, most private thoughts. Why did he want her?

If the portal was open, why hadn't he simply found her in the Human Realm? Lilith's magic had worked there when they had tumbled through during their fight, she would have been helpless against him. Well, more hopeless than she had been when they had fought. The only thing that made sense was that he would have stepped right into the same void she had been in. Which meant that the portal wasn't working right.

Did he know she was here, now? Would he recognize her arrival by the storm it had caused? Viney had said that everyone had seen it. Would he recognize her, if he saw her?

Luz had grown some, had grown her hair out a bit in the back so that it bounced above her shoulders with each step she took, and her bangs were an inch or so longer. But she didn't doubt that even with the polymorph spell, he would know her on sight. He would dig his voice into her thoughts with that terrifying echo and mock her for trying to hide.

Another chill went up her spine, making her wish she'd grabbed a jacket with a hood when she had left.

Left the apartment.

Left her mom.

Her eyes went wide.

She had left a note for her mom, saying on it that she would be back later. Later had now become much, much later, if ever. Belos had the portal and it apparently led to nowhere, and she wasn't about to put her hopes in a giant skeleton to be kind enough to take her home, even if she could find it in there again!

She had also sent a video, of her standing right in front of the portal. Proof she hadn't lost her mind, proof that this other world existed.

"Mierda!" She slapped a hand against her forehead, drawing a look from a nearby witch she had startled. Giving the man a sheepish smile, she walked off at a brisk pace towards a nearby alleyway, nearly running around the corner as she fished out her cell phone and opened up the messages.

Last time, the portal had allowed a bit of signal to come through, just enough to send text messages. Send them very slowly, but still. It seemed it still worked, with just a signal bar of service slowly flashing at the top of her screen.

Luz blinked, staring at the keyboard, her mind entirely blank on how to explain what had happened to her mother.

She had, technically, gotten permission to come back here. Luz winced, remembering that the addendum to that had been knowing she could come back. She could lie.

That didn't feel right, not after a breakthrough of raw honesty she had shared with her mom.

Her thumb fell towards the device, then hovered and faltered back. She tried again, with pressing the pad of her thumb down on a letter long enough it popped up with the accented variations before she just deleted it. Sighing as she tapped the lock button, she slipped the phone back into her pocket.

Yup, this was the real her, no matter what world she was in.

A coward.

* * *

The worn dirt path that wound through the woods filled Luz with a sense of nostalgia and dread. It wasn't just meeting Eda that was eating at her nerves, but the sight of the blood and rust-colored leaves and the dark bushes that rustled with odd creatures of all sorts that left her running through the last memory she had of the Isles.

The fear that had gripped her when she saw the glyph begin to glow that deep, sickly red. Her heart pounding as she tried desperately to find anything that could stop him from sending her away, the smug way he had dismissed her claim that she would find a way back.

She was so caught up in remembering how helpless she had felt that it took the sunlight reflecting off of stained glass to make her squint and pull her from her thoughts, holding up a hand as she saw in front of her, after three long years, the Owl House. Luz was suddenly very aware of how she had spent the whole walk here not figuring out what she was going to say, or how it was going to feel to see this place again. It felt.. Unreal. Yesterday she was halfway certain it had never existed. Now she was standing in front of it, fairly certain she wasn't dreaming.

She hoped she wasn't dreaming.

A deep breath helped to keep those thoughts and feelings down.

"Hoot! Who goes there?"

The shrill voice ripped her out of her thoughts quite efficiently, her eyes wide as she stared at the demon that swirled towards her from the door. Hooty settled to a stop above her, looking down with what she was sure he thought was a stern look. "Hi, Hooty. It's me, Luz!" Her pointed ears twitched, causing her to laugh softly. "Well, Luz plus a polymorph spell."

Hooty twirled down his tube down to stare at her closer, setting her back on her heels as he squinted. There was a moment of quiet before he suddenly pulled back. "Nope! I don't know anyone named Luz!" Her eyes narrowed as he began to ramble off on a story about how he would have liked to have known her, because he was always wanting to make new friends. It left wondering exactly why she had just felt like she had missed the bird-brained demon a few moments ago.

She was about to speak up and hopefully cut off his shrill voice for a moment so she could explain when the door opened. "Hooty, who are you ta-" A woman with dark indigo hair with a grey streak stepped out, eyes fixed upon her. There was a second of confusion at her tipped ears before the woman took in the rest of her, and then a flash of recognition. Lilith gasped in surprise. "Human?"

Scoffing and folding her arms, Luz couldn't help but glare at a bit at the witch. It was very much on par with her last trip to the Isles that this wasn't going anywhere near how she had thought it would. Expectations were very much turned on their head here. "Yeah, a Human with a name. It's Luz, in case you forgot."

"Oh, _that_ Luz!" She hadn't even realized that Hooty had stopped talking and instead swirled back to look at her from a couple inches away, close enough that she hoped he noticed the glare she turned his way. "Hi Luz!"

"Hooty." She reached up and pushed his head back away from her with a finger between his eyes. "What other people named Luz do you even know?"

The owl turned over until his face was upside down, wearing a wide smile. "None! Other than one of my bestest friends! Hoot!"

Luz sighed, a smile breaking through the annoyance she felt towards the house demon, before her eyes trailed back over to Lilith, who had walked closer and was studying her witch-like features. The smile vanished in an instant, and the woman's eyes widened for a moment before she donned a chastised expression at being caught staring. "My apologies, Luz." The name still felt weird coming from the witch, but it was a start, and she let her arms drop. "Oh, I'll go and ge-"

"Lily, who is so interesting that you just left the cauldron boiling on the fire? I swear, I walk away for five minutes and you can't even.." Luz felt her heart leap as she saw Eda emerge from the house, her messy bright orange mane still catching her off guard as it swayed slightly, the Owl Lady's eyes locked onto her. There was still that grey streak left by the curse, but the woman looked twice as vibrant and ten times as wild with her natural hair color. It may have been her imagination, but she could have sworn the woman had actually lost wrinkles, too. "Luz?!" Shock and surprise filled her former mentor's face, then a flash of joy before it settled into a stern gaze.

_Uh oh._

Rocking on her heels sheepishly, Luz looked between the two Clawthorne sisters. Lilith was clearly still processing everything, but Eda's expression looked too close to disappointment, and she couldn't face that. It lead her to look down at the ground as she spoke, a dose of shame rising up within her. "So.. About staying away from the portal, I-"

She didn't have time to finish before she was engulfed in a tight and warm hug, hoping that nervous squeak hadn't really just come from her. It took her a moment before she wrapped her arms around Eda, returning the embrace with equal intensity, and feeling her chest constrict with a swell of emotion. When the woman finally pulled away, her mismatched eyes were focused on Luz with equal parts worry and anger. "Kid, you shouldn't be here."

"I know, I.."

"Wait." Eda's eyes narrowed, a hand lifted to hold her chin up and allow the witch to inspect her. Luz had nearly forgotten, so caught up in the reunion. A thumb ran softly over the scar on her left cheek, and then her mentor's expression took on a dangerous aspect. "..Who hurt you?"

There was a power behind the words, a heavy sense of implicit retribution. Wow, she had really missed the fierceness the Owl Lady carried. It made her laugh shakily. "Well I-"

"And who cast the polymorph spell on you? It's really quite impressive work.." Lilith interrupted with her wondering out loud, head tilted and not noticing the glare she had earned from her sister.

"That was actually-"

"Lily! Look at these scars." Luz's words fell into a mumble as her chin was pulled forward a bit when Eda whirled around to face her sister. "Someone hurt her, and when I get a name, I swear on the Titan I'll-"

"They're scars, Edalyn, it clearly wasn't anyone on the Isles!"

Luz huffed as she tried to explain. "Well, technically-"

"I'll still rip them apart! You think a silly little thing like them being in the Human Realm is gonna stop me?" An enraged Eda looked back at her. "Tell me who-"

"I'llllll help!"

Hooty interjected his words and himself into the conversation, moving so quickly between them that Luz stumbled back a bit, watching as the house demon twisted on himself in an upward spiral. The whole exchange left her blinking rapidly as she looked back at the two arguing sisters, now remembering exactly just how much chaos the Owl House had held during her months here compared to the last three years.

Life had been muted in her world.

That was very much _not_ the case here.

Though now it was starting to feel like someone had switched the volume up too loud. Her nerves and emotions felt like they were boiling here, threatening to crack her open and show everyone the fragile little girl she actually was.

Not here.

Not in front of other people.

She had learned her lesson back in the Human Realm, had opened up to enough people to learn that all it got her was labeled as crazy or a loser. Luz forced down the coiling emotions in the pit of her stomach, and focused on the three way argument in front of her.

Even with just three people talking over themselves now, they almost reached a level of interrupting each other that Luz had only ever witnessed at Noceda family reunions. Almost. It was hard to match the intensity and personality of her Abuela when the adults got too uppity. That gave her an idea of how to settle this, recalling exactly the tone the old woman took on in those moments.

"Hey! Cállate!" Her raised voice caused all of them to pause, looking back over at her as she waved her hands in exasperation. It didn't take understanding the language to grasp what it was she had just yelled, and both witches blinked at her as if they had seen a ghost, while Hooty actively recoiled halfway back to his door. She took a deep breath, closing her eyes and running her hands back through her hair before she started again. "As I was trying to say.."

She relayed the story of how she had almost been dragged through the portal, with both of the older women listening intently and not interrupting her any further, and she took great care to emphasize how she couldn't pull herself out of the portal, so she had to go in to avoid it closing on her. Luz even included the space she had fallen through between her world and the sky of the Boiling Isles, neglecting to mention the skeletal giant who had caught her.

She'd already been crazy in one world, and making it official in two would be too much for her.

They had moved into the front room of the Owl House by then, her question of what that place in between their two worlds could have been was answered by Eda with a shrug and a, "Beats me, kiddo." As she spoke, she noticed the way the two sisters had really settled in to the reality of living with one another. They alternated turns moving to stir the cauldron of bubbling potion that was brewing over a fire, each of them listening intently to her, without more than a glance spared between them.

She noted that neither of them ever once used magic to perform this chore, something she had seen Eda do for a dozen potions at once before. Luz finished up her tale with the Blight twins catching her and calling in Viney to heal her, gesturing at her new scars in the process. To satisfy Lilith's interest, she explained how Edric had crafted the polymorph to hide her identity as a Human before sending her on her way.

"I have a question though.." She stared up at the former leader of the Emperor's Coven with a nervous gaze, wondering if it was taboo to ask an actual witch. "Are my ears supposed to be _super_ sensitive to touch?" To illustrate, she brought up a finger and lightly pushed against the ear, making it twitch away with some instinct that Luz figured the spell had imbued them with.

Lilith smiled at her words, but Eda had let out a bellowing laugh from the other side of the room as the older sister explained. "That is how our ears work, though most witches learn how to control the movements, as they can reveal our emotions without meaning to."

"Wait, so I'm basically just telling you exactly how I feel right now?"

The older witch took a second to look her over before shrugging and nodding, offering a sympathetic smile while Eda chuckled. "Kid, you've always done that." The Owl Lady picked up the cauldron finally, moving it to the kitchen table and placing a heavy iron lid on it before rejoining them in the living room. "Now, about this.. Thing you saw in the portal that attacked you. Did you get a better look than just its eyes?"

Luz looked down, fidgeting with her fingers as she thought. She was interrupted by both of the witches giggling softly, drawing her gaze with a raised eyebrow. Lilith was the one who deigned to explain what was funny. "Sorry, it's just.. Your ears. They got all droopy."

Fantastic.

She sighed, shaking her head and reaching up to pull on the pointed offenders with a huff, feeling them burn with a flush of embarrassment. "I didn't see anything besides the eyes and the claws, but.. It was dark purple?" There was something else about it, something that was distinctly familiar about it in a way that set a chill in her spine. "There was this feeling. Like it didn't just want to drag me in, it wanted to hurt me. Like it hated me."

Luz looked down, hearing only a hum from Lilith before the witch began to speak. "It sounds like a soul projection spell. It's a bit of specialized magic, Oracles who use it can usually just speak with the person they send it after. To be able to harm you? ..It'd have to be an exceptionally powerful witch."

When she looked back at the witches, they were sharing a look that left her even more worried than before, and she knew exactly why they were concerned. Most of the powerful witches worked for Belos. The claws had been so desperate to pull her in, tearing at skin where they could find purchase. "He.. Needs me for something, doesn't he?"

Eda slipped past her sister and sat down in the middle of the couch, reaching out to drape an arm around the back of her shoulders. "Look, kid, I don't need to tell you that you royally messed up whatever his plan was by blowing up the portal. But we.. Um, well we had some help and learned that the portal wasn't quite repaired, it didn't connect to your world directly anymore."

Tilting her head, Lilith peered around the orange mane of her sister. "That's why he didn't come into your world to simply take you, he couldn't. If what grabbed you was a projection from a witch working for him, it was a sloppy one.. I don't believe whoever it was expected you to be on the other side."

"Which she shouldn't have been on the other side of in the first place, don't think I forgot about that."

The Owl Lady looked down at her with a stare that make her nervously laugh and force a wide smile. "I.. Missed you?"

That broke through the wild witch's facade, causing her to laugh and pull Luz into another tight hug. "Yeah, yeah, I missed you too, kid." Eda pulled away quickly, though, frowning once again. "But I want to know why you went when you knew it was dangerous, I told you we had a plan."

Luz broke contact almost instantly, watching the way both witches eyes flicked over to her ears, and knowing that she was being given away by the polymorph again. "I.. I had to see it for myself." There was a flash of confusion through both of their faces, and a welling of shame within her chest. She tried to find the words to explain, but nothing came to mind as she wanted to just curl into a ball.

"Edalyn." Lilith's voice was soft as Luz kept her eyes on anything but the two older women, staring down at the old floorboards of the Owl House. "Perhaps we should invite Luz's friends over? It would do her well to see them again."

There must have been some kind of understanding that passed between the sisters that Luz couldn't see, but Eda took the suggestion without so much as a snide comment before gently touching her shoulder, squeezing it in support and moving away from the couch. She heard the door open and close, pulling her arms closer to her chest as she risked a glance at the remaining witch. Mismatched eyes were centered on her, and her own gaze immediately returned to the floor.

A hand neared her shoulder, hesitating for a moment before laying upon it in a comforting gesture. "Luz, perhaps you'd like to tell me what happened?"

Shrugging off the woman's hand, Luz looked up with what she hoped was a glare. There wasn't a lot of bite to put behind it, and it faltered in the face of the steady neutral stare that awaited her. "I barely know you."

"Exactly." Lilith seemed to take her rejection in stride, smiling in a knowing way that told her she had just been played into engaging with the witch. "We barely know each other, and the last time we saw one another I was barely an hour past being someone you saw as an enemy. So, if there is something you'd like to say that you worry Edalyn might be disappointed in you for, why would my opinion matter?"

Luz hated that it made some sort of sense. Everything she had gone through in the last three years just proved what she feared her mentor had thought of her. That she was soft, fragile. Weak. She also didn't want to admit to Eda's face that she had thought the months they spent together weren't real for so long. "I.." Her throat ached as she swallowed, hard. "I didn't have any proof that I'd been here when I went back to my world. It isn't like it is here, where you know there's another realm out there. We think witches and demons are stories, that magic isn't real."

Lilith nodded, confirming she knew this as Luz finally looked away again, her arms folded across her chest and providing some safety from feeling like she was going to burst from keeping this all inside. "So when I tried to get back here, I had to tell my mom everything." Her shoulders fell, remembering how she had zero ways to get back to her world. "She didn't say she thought I made it all up, but I could tell.. It was hard to believe. And soon _I_ didn't believe it. I've spent years telling myself I made it up, trying to move on."

The hand returned to her shoulder, before slipping down to her back and rubbing slow, soft circles. Tears threatened to burn at the edges of her vision, but Luz pushed the need to cry back down. Not here. "And so when they were trying to contact you.. Oh, Titan." Lilith's voice was filled with sympathy, which just made Luz squeeze her eyes shut, unable to even stare at the wall. She forced back the wave of emotion, drowning it inside her, knowing that she couldn't let that dam break. Not now. Not in front of anyone. If the past few years had taught her anything, it was that her breakdowns had to be private. "I can't imagine the toll that must have taken."

The hand on her back felt good, a release valve on how she was feeling. That scared her too much, contact like that when she already felt so raw. Relief when she didn't deserve it. She pulled away from the touch and cleared her throat, Luz breathed in heavily, letting out a shaky chuckle after she had settled her nerves a little bit. "You're much nicer than I remember."

Lilith laughed at that, really laughed, as if it had caught her completely off guard. "Well, I do have you to thank for that. After all, you saved myself and my sister from my own mistakes." The witch beamed at Luz as her cheeks flushed, embarrassed. "You're very bright, tenacious, and willful. I think the Isles are better for having you here, despite the danger."

Luz didn't know what to do with this compliment, letting out a little nervous laugh. It almost sounded as though Lilith was proud of her? But that didn't make any sense. She hadn't done anything to be proud of, even back in her world she was average on any scale that anyone cared about. And here? Here she had stumbled through a portal twice, nearly being killed a dozen times on the second attempt. She'd never exactly been pride material, but in this place she took the freaking cake for being furthest from it. She halfheartedly rubbed at the corner of an eye. "I don't even know why I told you all that."

"As I said, I think it's easier to talk to someone who is.. Impartial." The witch looked as though she had more to say, but her mouth closed when the door opened and Eda walked back in.

Hooty's grating voice filled the room before the door was shut, rambling on while the Owl Lady let out a groan of annoyance. The expression immediately shifted to one of excitement as her gaze fell on the two of them on the couch. "Well! Owlbert is off to invite your friends over, I told them to come by a few hours after school, figured that'd give you enough time to.. Y'know. Readjust." The witch waggled a finger in her direction lazily.

Eda's eyes were fixed on her, and while Luz knew her old mentor was trying to hide it, she could see the concern behind that wide smile. She had to look away, just in time to see a small demon waddling down the stairs, rubbing his eyes like he'd just woken up from a nap. "Why are you both so loud today?" Her mood shifted dramatically as she saw him, a grin drawn from her easily as his gaze settled on her. "Who's the witch?"

Luz frowned, tilting her head to the side as she felt her pointed ears flick in annoyance at not being recognized. Oh, the ears! "It's me, King!" She launched herself off the couch, ignoring his squeal of surprise as she scooped up the little demon and hugged him tightly, letting him squirm and kick at her.

"What the- E-Eda?!" King was reaching out toward the Owl Lady, who just cackled with laughter as she watched them. Wide eyes finally looked up at her, and the closer inspection combined with her antics caused recognition finally bloom in the demon. "..Luz? Luz!"

"The one and only!"

She beamed at him, letting out a surprised noise when he suddenly flung himself against her, squeezing surprisingly hard with his little arms. "Luz, you're back!"

Giggling as she held him for a moment, Luz finally relented and pulled back, setting him back down. "I am! How've you been, buddy?"

"Better, now that I've got my best minion back!" The little demon put a fist in the air triumphantly. "My army has been lacking, ever since the Cliffside Massacre." His tone was filled with horror, enough that she glanced at the two witches who were watching. All she got was two shaking heads and expressions that very clearly communicated a sense of 'don't ask'. She giggled at them before lightly bouncing him in her arms, his collar jingling.

"Speaking of massacres, you wanna see your room?" Luz glanced over at Eda as she gently set King down on the ground again, ignoring his little 'wyeh!' as she felt excitement well up at the thought of seeing where she had stayed three years ago.

It was probably jammed full of old junk, knowing Eda. But old junk had its own charm. "Definitely!"

She followed behind the Owl Lady quietly up the stairs, noting more than a few differences in the house since the last time she had been here. The living room downstairs looked as though it had been cleaned, recently. Which is something she had been the one to do the handful of times it had been done, last time she stayed here. The hallway had definitely been swept, and there were a few pictures on the wall that she remembered being stacked on a table somewhere in Eda's room.

Luz paused for a moment to look over some of them. Several depicted the Clawthorne sisters in their younger days, with one that had Eda riding on top of Lilith's shoulders holding a stick like a knight would hold a lance that made her giggle. The noise drew the witch's attention, and when Luz looked back at her mentor she found a fond smile waiting. "I thought you'd like these. Lily kept getting on my case for living in 'a pigfly sty'."

She snickered at the tone the witch had taken about her sister's admonishment. "I honestly never would have thought that Lilith had bright orange hair, like you." Luz shrugged as she offered a smile, it was cool to see a bit of happiness regarding Eda's past. It used to be so.. Untouchable, like it had been buried and the Owl Lady never once spared a glance back. "Congrats on the new do, by the way."

Eda caught the way she gestured up at her mane of fiery hair, brushing a hand through it with the usual flair of showmanship. "Oh, you like it? It came back a few months after, ah.. Well, you know."

The mood died instantly, with both of them staring at one another and trying to find the words, any words, to fill the space that between them. Luz stammered for a moment before she closed her eyes, clenching her fists so hard her nails bit into the palm of her hands. "I'm sorry." There was a confused noise from the witch, drawing her gaze back up. "I didn't mean to leave, you know?"

"Oh, kiddo." The confusion on Eda's face immediately melted into a sad smile, and her mentor reached out to lay a hand comfortingly on her shoulder. "I know you didn't, no one ever blamed you for it."

Well, that wasn't true.

She blamed herself.

Luz forced a smile. "Okay. So, come on, lets see what you've done with the place!" It didn't sound as fake as it felt to say, as the witch suddenly turned and clapped her hands together, marching off to the door that led to where she had stayed three years ago.

Pausing with her hand on the doorknob, Eda looked back at her with an almost embarrassed expression. "Truth be told, we didn't do much with it. Just moved some things around.. And uh.." She pushed the door in, stepping out of the way for Luz to move inside.

She blinked, slowly. She had expected it to look like a bomb had gone off in a junkyard in the middle of a hurricane. Instead it was.. Clean. It was still a supply closet that had been converted to a small bedroom, but it was much more clean than it had ever been when she lived in it. There were crates containing random items and odd ends from the Human Realm stacked neatly along the right wall, but against the left was a bed, a bit smaller than Luz's had been back in the apartment. There was even a nightstand pressed between the crates and the bed, right up against the window.

She looked back at Eda, who was rubbing the back of her neck awkwardly. "Uh, King said you might come back some day, so we should be ready. You know that little demon, we gotta keep him happy, right?" The witch chuckled, but Luz could tell it hadn't only been the little guy who had wanted to do this. If anything, the organized way the room had been set up told her that even Lilith had a hand in it.

Walking into the room, she bounced a hand against the mattress, glancing at the window before noticing that on the nightstand was a picture. She moved over and picked it up, rubbing her thumb over the simple frame. It was her mom hugging her, a picture she had packed away into her backpack in anticipation of being stuck at camp for three months.

Camp.

She had been at camp.

Luz shook her head, setting the frame down with shaky fingers. Sitting against the base of the stand was a yellow messenger bag, faded somewhat from the last time she had seen it, but still adorned with a number of round pins. She let out a soft laugh as she picked it up, the pins rattling as it was moved. "No way." Throwing open the top of it, she rooted through several pairs of clothes that definitely would not fit her now and found her old phone, pulling it up and holding down the lock button for a moment.

Nothing happened, which made sense. Three years and no charger.

"Oh yeah, that thing." Eda's voice jolted her from her thoughts. "King broke it watching the videos you had on it."

Luz tossed it back into the bag, snickering. "It's not broken, just needs to be charged, probably. Which.. I can't do now." She blinked, realizing that her current phone would also face this problem. Looking through the clothes, she realized there was one thing missing. "Uh, where's my old hoodie?"

The purple and white hoodie had been one of her favorites, with cat ears on top that she had thought made her look super cute. She remembered putting it in the bag when she had settled down to sleep, the night she had ventured out into the forest and been ripped back to her world. That memory stung as she looked up at her mentor.

"The one with the ears, right? I don't know.." Eda shrugged, looking up slightly and tapping finger against her chin as she thought about it. "I packed everything I found into that bag, and I think it was with them, last I saw."

"Oh, hm." Luz frowned, looking back down into the various pieces of clothing. It wasn't like it could have fit her now, anyway. She thumbed the edge of her flannel for a moment.

It wasn't like it was even her kinda thing to wear anymore, too.

Eda seemed to sense her mood shifting, and stepped back towards the door. "I'll leave you to, um, settle in." The witch snickered softly. "Maybe take a nap? You look exhausted, kid."

"Yeah." Luz caught what had been said a second later, shaking her head as she looked over the bed at the witch. She did feel exhausted, having gotten maybe a couple hours of sleep before she'd left for the portal. "Eda? Um, thank you. For letting me stay again. Sorry to fall in your lap a second time."

The Owl Lady turned to face her with a wide, genuine smile. "Don't even think about mentioning it, you're always welcome here. This is your home, whenever you need it." A golden eye closed in a wink before the woman left her alone, closing the door behind her.

Luz stared at the door for a long moment, sighing softly. She didn't feel as though she deserved to just step back into their lives like this. She wasn't even supposed to be here, and if she had listened to Eda in the first place, she wouldn't have ended up here again. With no way home.

And half a battery on the last line of contact to her mom.

Frowning and now feeling angry at herself, Luz pulled out her phone, staring at the dark screen. She knew she had to text her mom, tell her what had happened.

She had a few hours though. Holding down the lock button, she waited until the prompt appeared to turn off the phone, swiping it and watching the screen grow dark again before setting it on the nightstand beside the picture.

With a sigh at her own avoidance of the issue, she reached into the yellow messenger bag on the bed, pulling out an old notepad and the pen attached to it. With a hopeful tug at her heart, she clicked the pen and flipped open to an empty page, drawing the shape that was burned into her memory from three years of desperation and coping.

_Please work._

It had to work.

Luz held her breath as she finished the glyph and tapped a finger against the middle of the drawing, watching with wonder as the paper curled into itself, burning away and finally lifted itself up into the air as a levitating ball of light. It drifted into her palm easily, and she felt her ears flick a half dozen times in rapid succession as a smile reached her lips.

* * *

"Luz!"

"I'm coming!" She practically ran down the hallway, still rubbing the sleep from her eyes. Whether it was the exhaustion of the day in general, or the fact she got little to no sleep last night, she had fallen asleep shortly after trying out the four glyphs she knew and making sure they still worked.

They had.

And she had managed not to set the room on fire when she realized that the fire glyph she had drawn made.. Fire.

After finally figuring out how to dispel the magic again, she had collapsed back onto the bed. The mattress had been really comfortable, it turned out. And her eyes had felt so heavy. And she had slept until the sun was starting to go down on the Isles.

She grabbed either side of the railing, looking down into the sprawling living room. Chatting with Lilith by the base of the stairs was a boy and a girl, and she caught just the tail end of the older witch explaining the scars she had gained today so they wouldn't be caught off guard. It brought a little smile to her face to know that Eda's sister seemed to have some rapport with her old friends, and was looking out for her to bypass awkward conversations.

"Willow! Gus!" Both of them stopped and looked up at her with wide eyes. Luz couldn't stop her excitement, launching herself down the steps four at a time, and crashing into Willow with a hug that she half expected would tackle the witch to the ground.

Surprisingly, the girl caught her easily, barely moving as she laughed and hugged Luz back just as fiercely. "Oh, it's so good to see you!"

"You too!" Luz beamed at her as she pulled back, before she squeezed the muscles she was clearly feeling on Willow's biceps, testing them before she raised her eyebrows. The vision she had seen back in her world hadn't been wrong, the witch had grown quite a bit in three years. "Holy smokes, you _did_ get buff. I totally thought I imagined that!"

The witch stammered and blushed, a hand running through what definitely was a pixie cut now that she could inspect it closer, but the glasses and the kind green eyes hadn't changed a bit. Luz giggled, noting that Willow was even taller than her now, but lacked the teenage lankiness that Luz had gotten with her last growth spurt. Lucky.

Her gaze moved to the boy, who had seriously gotten shorter from her perspective, even with his longer hair. Nevertheless, he lacked some of the baby fat he had before, and actually had gained an inch or so in height. She grabbed him and enveloped him in a hug just as tight as the one she had given Willow, giggling as she heard him let out a squeak at the strength she showed. "Gus! Look at you, all grown up!"

He laughed as he hugged her back. "We couldn't believe it when we got the note from Eda, and Lilith just telling us that it was you that fell from the sky?"

Willow snickered, hand on a hip as she tilted her head at Luz. "Couldn't go one day without causing trouble, could you?"

"Of course not!" Luz stuck her tongue out at the witch, blowing a raspberry. "It's go big or go home, when it comes to Luz Noceda!"

Her two friends stopped laughing at the same time, staring at her and letting out almost harmonized 'Awww' sounds as they watched her. She blinked in confusion, before she felt her ears fluttering up and down happily and reached up to slap them against the side of her head. "I swear, I don't get how you all live with these things!"

Gus snorted with laughter while Willow just grinned. "You learn to deal with it, I promise. I'm just glad the twins found you first. They're the best Illusionists I've ever seen, even Gus doesn't know the first thing about a polymorph spell this advanced!" The witch's smile grew more sly as the boy looked at her with faux betrayal on his face. "Well, at least one that doesn't end up with random animal parts popping up."

"That happened once! Once!" Gus threw his hands dramatically up into the air, causing both girls to giggle for a moment before he joined in. Luz brought both of them into a tight hug at the same time, holding it a second until she stepped away.

"I really missed you guys."

There it was, the emotional coil she had been pushing down, whipping about in her stomach like an animal thrashing at it's cage. She grit her teeth and forced it back into silence as Willow spoke. "We missed you too, Luz. It really hasn't been the same here without you."

"Yeah, like literally nothing is the same. Even Boscha is kinda nice now!" Gus' words drew her surprised gaze as he nodded, but that didn't stop her from noticing the way Willow rolled her eyes before focusing on the boy again. "We have so much to catch you up on!"

"For real, tell me everything! How is school going for you? Oh! Did Bump ever get the funding to fix all the things I broke? No wait, who fought Grom the last couple of years? How is Boscha nice now?!" Each question seemed to widen the witches' eyes even more as they giggled at her intensity.

Gus launched into an explanation about how Bump had secured funding from several different families after the semester she had left during, thanks to a lot of the parents coming together. The Emperor's Coven had withdrawn all of their support after the revelation of kids going multi-track in the school, but it seemed like the Principal had been glad that at least the Coven hadn't discovered that a Human had been enrolled in all the tracks at once. That part left her feeling especially proud of herself.

There was still the matter of what the dual-track kids were going to do when they graduated, since Coven Law hadn't changed to allow them to join multiple covens, but for the time being it seemed as though Bump's disregard for that rule hadn't caused much trouble with the Emperor.

Luz was listening intently until she felt an ear twitch, catching the sound of a knock. King interrupted Gus with a question that didn't even register for her as she stared at Lilith going to open the door, and Willow had excused herself to grab a small snack of whatever Eda had been preparing in the kitchen.

It was like suddenly her heartbeat was in her ears as she saw a flash of green hair through the sliver she could see past the older Clawthorne sister, and Luz became very aware of how her freshly pointed ears were pinned down against her head.

Amity was here.

And she would see every little thing that Luz tried to keep hidden, just like Gus and Willow had.

But this was different, this was _Amity Blight._

Luz felt a jolt of fear run through her as she realized that she wouldn't be able to hide any of the shame she felt, wouldn't be able to keeping pushing all those emotions down. It hadn't been easy with her old friends, but part of her just instinctually knew it would be impossible to do so with Amity.

Something was different with her, something was more personal.

Luz tried to nail down what exactly was so different, but her thoughts had already started their spiral at a speed to match the rapid pounding in her chest.

How could she even be back here?

How could this even be real?

Things like this did not happen to her.

She was going to wake up, back in her bed, at any moment.

Luz didn't know when she had gone back up the stairs, but she was stepping out onto the garden balcony above Eda's room, her breath coming in short gasps that left her feeling even more out of breath than before.

She had gone to camp.

Reaching the small wall that surrounded the small herb garden, Luz leaned on it heavily, looking out over the Isles and curling her fingers against the stone as she fought to get her breath under control. The forests stretched out below her, in vivid reds, blues, and purples that gave way to the silhouettes of buildings in Bonesborough further out.

Squeezing her eyes tight, she tried to tell herself she wasn't dreaming. That this wasn't a trick, that she hadn't gone to camp. She just needed to buy time for herself to calm down.

Then she could go back down and not make a fool of herself.

Then she could face-

"Luz?"

The voice caused her to stand straight up, her back locked into place and her mental focus suddenly shifting to making sure her ears weren't moving a single inch. Her arms were crossed tightly in front of her, feeling that if she did not hold herself tight enough she would shatter apart.

"Sorry. Eda said you'd probably be up here."

That voice.

Had she gone to camp?

"If you don't want to talk, I can go.."

Luz turned, hoping her movements didn't seem as stiff as they felt as she stared at the other witch. Amity Blight stood before her, looking uncertain and rubbing one arm with her hand, golden eyes trained on her. She watched as that stare slid over her eyes and ears, eyes widening slightly when they settled on her new scars. There was surprise there, indicating no one had told her what happened, but concern quickly took over the expression.

She was just as she had appeared in the bathroom at school, days ago. A wilder mane of hair with much more of her natural rusty brown color showing through the mint green dye, framing her face in a darker color. It made the girl's bright irises even more apparent, almost glowing now.

"S-sorry." Mumbling out the apology, she busied herself with staring at the school uniform Amity was wearing, the sleeves of which were a deep purple, while the girl's leggings were the same pink that Luz remembered. The colors of two different Tracks. As if on cue, her ears flicked several times, and those golden eyes returned to them. Luz slapped her hands against them, covering them as they tried to betray just how frayed of a rope she was holding on to.

Amity reached out a hand, but faltered a bit and let it drop before speaking again. There was dark cloth wrapped around the girl's left palm and wrist, drawing her gaze to it. She couldn't find the way to process curiosity in the moment, and simply stared at it. "I can.. Imagine it must be overwhelming to be back."

The way she said it hit Luz in the chest like a bag of bricks, like the other girl knew _exactly_ what she had been through, like she could see everything that Luz was trying so hard to cover up. It made her shrink down against the stone wall behind her. She didn't want this, she didn't want to feel like this. Exposed and fragile. A mess.

_A freak._

She didn't want to break down, to cry, least of all in front of Amity, and she turned away from her old friend. Their first attempt at friendship had been so rocky, but she had put in the time and effort, and Amity was always someone who valued hard work and strength. She wouldn't value someone who had given up, someone who was weak.

She wouldn't want Luz as a friend, now. What would the witch even think of the person she had become?

Why did it matter so much more than what anyone else thought of her?

"Luz, I.." Amity's hand gently touched her shoulder, pulling her back around to face the witch. She didn't try to resist, she didn't even know if she could. Everything in her body wasn't listening, like she was suddenly locked inside and her thoughts wouldn't allow her to move.

She stared at her friend with wide eyes, feeling the fear spiking in her chest as she begged that coil of emotions not to break free.

The dam she had placed over that writhing mass of frayed nerves and raw hurt cracked.

Amity took her hands off of her ears, smiling as she pulled them down and held both between them, fingers squeezing softly on her palms. "You don't have to hide from me." Why did it seem like she knew it all already? How could she know what a coward she had become? Another crack. "..I'm just really glad you're back." Everything in the witch's voice spoke of genuine relief.

That sent a thought or two reeling, trying to process the acceptance she was being shown. She fought desperately to force the coming wave of emotion back down.

The fight only lasted for another moment.

Luz had nothing left to give, and the sob that ripped through her as everything she had been pushing down came roaring up brought a tiny bit of relief with it. Tears that had been burning to be released were suddenly pouring down her cheeks as she threw herself against the witch. There was surprise in the way Amity caught her, but there was none of the rejection she had feared.

Hands settled on her back and held her tightly as she buried her face into the crook of Amity's shoulder and let herself feel everything caught inside. She let that coil that had been twisting slowly for three years go, sobbing into the fabric of the girl's cowl.

And she wasn't rejected because of it.

No matter how she had been treated back in her world, the words that had stung for weeks and the interest that had been shown in her only to reveal itself as poisonous, she let herself feel it all in that moment. The shame, and the way her own memories had been made to make her feel an outcast.

She had been afraid that even her friends here, they would trick her. She had been afraid that they wouldn't care, that she would feel as unwelcome here as she had among other Humans. And that was if they had even been real! Her fingers curled into Amity's clothing, clutching it tightly and forcing herself to believe it was all real.

But Amity just held her. And Luz knew.

She knew _and_ believed. In a way that even her mother's uncertain acceptance couldn't provide for her self-doubt. She believed wholly and without reservation, in this moment.

That she hadn't gone to camp.

It all felt too real, the way Amity held onto her, the way her heart thrummed as she cried.

Luz curled into the embrace a little more, knowing and believing in that moment that she was back where she belonged.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whew, that concludes the first part of this fic! Took me a bit longer to get this chapter feeling right, and I kept getting distracted working on the second part. I'm guessing it'll be a couple weeks before I start posting the second part, sooner if I can manage, but keep an eye out. I'll of course be adding it to the series, so I'm hoping that will let you all know when the second part is up? First time doing this on Ao3, so.. Dunno. Thank you all again for reading, and for all your comments and support, I've really loved hearing from you all about how you've all enjoyed the story, or any questions you might have about it. The second part will focus on Amity and the three year gap, and some of what she got up to. It might be darker in some ways, but we'll get to that.. Anyway, I hope you all enjoy your December holidays, whichever you may or may not celebrate or observe! 'Til next time! -Fox
> 
> Also, we topped 200 kudos?! You're all my favorite people! <3
> 
> Translations -
> 
> "Mierda!" - "Shit!"
> 
> "Cállate!" - "Shut up!"


End file.
